All Stories
by JChase
Summary: When Rose mysteriously appears on board the TARDIS a year after Doomsday, she and the Doctor are once again the stuff of legend. But what will this change? How will Rose cope with the loss of her family? And how did she return? (This will be a season 3 rewrite to include Rose, but there will also be original content and plenty of plot twists). Eventual Rose x Doctor.
1. Prologue

**Hello! I know there have been many season 3 rewrites to include Rose over the years, but I thought I'd share my own version. I'm hopeful it will be different enough to keep you engaged, as I plan on including a large amount of original content/storylines. Set after 'the Runaway Bride' but before s3 starts. Enjoy!**

The Doctor bolted upright, hearts pounding in his chest as he struggled to pull himself out of the nightmare. Cords and wires were tangled around his legs, trapping him, and he kicked out until he was finally free. He must have fallen asleep tinkering under the console again. It was hardly surprising considering the last time he had consciously decided to sleep was before… well, it was months ago at any rate. Collapsing back onto the floor, the Doctor took a few deep, shuddering breaths.

He knew better than to shut his eyes again.

Every time he tried he was assaulted with images that had burnt themselves onto the inside of his eyelids. Blurry silhouettes transforming into Cybermen. Red and blue beams shooting over his head. The cold, familiar light of a Dalek eyestalk.

And Rose. Always, there was Rose. Most of his nightmares featured her falling into the Void with no Pete Tyler to save her; sucked into nothingness for eternity. Each time he woke up screaming until his throat was hoarse.

When Rose wasn't falling, she was fading. Sometimes they would be standing so close that he could almost feel her hand in his, but no matter how hard they both struggled they could never reach each other.

The Doctor pulled himself upright with a growl, scrubbing furiously at his face before staggering over to the nearest door. Thankfully the TARDIS knew exactly what he needed and he found the kitchen within seconds, kettle already on. It wasn't until he went to pour the water that he realised his hands were shaking.

 _Rose said about the Daleks…what have they done to her, Doctor? Is she dead?_

He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose as he remembered Jackie's words, which had mirrored his own worst fear. _Was_ she dead because of them? Because of him?

 _You promised me! You gave me your word!_

The Doctor placed both hands on the counter to brace himself as the words echoed through his mind. He stayed in that position, frozen, until the kettle's piercing whistle broke his reverie. With a sigh, he shook his head as if to shake off the unwelcome memories and returned to the tea.

Everything was fine. Jackie hadn't been upgraded into a Cyberman and Rose wasn't dead. They were alright. Alive and well in Pete's world.

He knew that they would try to live good lives. Maybe now Rose would have a chance to meet someone to settle down with. And even though the thought of Rose with someone else made his hearts constrict painfully in his chest, the Doctor couldn't begrudge anything that might bring her happiness. She deserved to be happy.

His mind involuntarily flicked back to that bloody beach in Norway where his hearts had broken at the sight of Rose struggling to keep herself together.

 _"I l – I love you."_

He made a choking sound, halfway between a snort and a sob, as he thought about her last words to him. It was just so _Rose_. Even though she was clearly hurting she was still trying to comfort him, to let him know that he was loved.

Of course, she could have meant something more than the love of a friend… he instantly berated himself. Even if she had meant it in _that_ way, that she loved him the way he loved her, it was far too late to do anything about it. Still, the Doctor didn't think he'd ever forgive himself for not telling her how just how much she meant to him – how deeply ingrained into his every fibre his love for her ran, and always would run.

And then, just when he had thought the emotionally draining day was over, the fiery Donna had swept through the TARDIS and forced him to re-evaluate his perspective. Without even realising it, Donna Noble had reminded the Doctor exactly why he needed to keep moving. Because there were people out there like her, who needed his help. Because, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed those people as much as they needed him.

Not to mention he had a strong suspicion that a certain blonde would be disappointed if she could somehow know how close he had come to simply giving up.

Donna was brilliant, so he'd tried. He asked her to join him because she'd said he needed someone, and she was right. She turned him down (and rightly so, he admitted to himself). The loss of Rose had hit him harder than anything he'd endured since the Time War and as a result the Doctor had a feeling he may have come off as slightly – or extremely – insane to the poor ex-bride. But he did need someone. It was just unfortunate that the someone in question was trapped in a parallel universe with no way to reach him.

Absently, he took a sip of his tea, only to grimace when he realised it was cold. Blergh. He really should have invested in those cups that detected heat levels from that market he and Rose had visited a while back. Hadn't she been teasing him that he forgot about his tea an awful lot for a Lord of Time?

He didn't have the long to reflect on how much even happy memories with Rose still ached, as the TARDIS chose that moment to lurch violently and he was thrown against the wall, banging his head against the kitchen cupboards.

"Oi! What was that for?" He called out indignantly while rubbing the sore spot on his forehead, which he could feel was already turning into a bump. Thinking the TARDIS was maybe trying to snap him out of his wallowing, he grumbled out loud before moving to the freezer for some ice to stop the swelling. It was only when the ship bucked again and the Doctor slid across the room that he realised something was wrong.

Grabbing at the bench to stop himself from falling, he made his way to the console room, crashing into just about everything on the way as the TARDIS continued to jerk uncontrollably.

"Whoa! What's wrong with you, hey?" He said, as soothingly as he could while being tossed around like a ragdoll.

Once he was at the console he realised that the beloved ship was well and truly beyond his control. The Doctor did his best to work out what was wrong, leaping around the controls to the best of his abilities, but despite his best efforts he couldn't figure out what was going on. With one final almighty shudder the TARDIS stopped its shaking and the Doctor dove for the main screen to see where they'd ended up.

"Okay old girl, what have you got for me?" He murmured, pulling out his glasses and examining the screen with a slight frown.

It was telling him that they were suspended above the planet Impisi Embi, which he'd never heard of. Hoping for some enlightenment, he broadened the search to distinguish which galaxy Impisi Embi was part of. He was familiar with the answer, the Wavuka galaxy, yet it made things no less confusing. He'd only visited once, regenerations ago, but nothing then had concerned him about the place.

He checked the timestamp and frowned. It was very early on in its creation. So early, in fact, that there'd be no life yet.

Completely baffled, the Doctor supposed he should land on the planet and see why the TARDIS had been pulled here, but the ship refused to move. Even more puzzling was that he could tell that she _could_ move, she just wouldn't. The trip here, he could tell from experience, had been some external force acting on the TARDIS and bringing her to this particular spot, but for whatever reason now that she was here the old girl wanted to stay put.

Throwing his hands up in exasperation and running them through his hair, the Doctor leant back against the jump seat of the console, studying the TARDIS pensively. It was almost as if she were waiting for something. But what –

His train of thought was cut off by a burst of golden light and sharp bang from behind him. Whirling around to face the noise he felt the air sucked out of his lungs at the sight before him.

Rose Tyler, extremely bruised and battered, standing not two metres from him. His hearts stopped; surely he was delusional? That bump he'd taken on the head in the kitchen earlier must have done some real damage because there was no way she could be here. She had to be a dream, or a projection, or a –

He caught her gaze and without a doubt, he knew. She was really here.

Her dark brown eyes were staring at him with a mixture of fear, hope, and confusion.

"Doctor–?" Rose started to ask, but her voice broke. He opened his mouth to answer but no sound came out. She took a step forward but he stayed stock-still, unable to process what was happening. She stumbled slightly, starting to sway, and his brain caught on just in time – she was going to faint. He leapt forward instinctively to catch her as she lost consciousness.

The Doctor lowered her down gently and brushed the hair out of her face, getting his first proper look at her. Her pulse was steady, and she seemed to be a healthy weight. She had a deep scratch on her forehead and a few minor scrapes over her cheeks, but otherwise her face was relatively unharmed. He unzipped her jacket to see that dark bruises had bloomed on her arms beneath more cuts, and he could see dried blood in patches on her shirt and jeans.

Praying it wasn't Rose's blood, he lifted her gently and carried her to the TARDIS med bay, setting her down softly on one of the empty beds. He got the TARDIS to do a body scan to uncover the extent of her injuries then retrieved the things he would need to fix her minor wounds while he waited for the results.

State of the art 80th century medical equipment healed the scrapes and scratches instantly, and he waved a small, wand-like instrument called a füipare over her to speed up the healing of the bruises. It wouldn't get rid of them completely but it would certainly help.

Disturbingly, the Doctor discovered evidence of old wounds, some partially healed while others had faded to scars, all over her.

He fixed what he could and was just waving the füipare over his own forehead when the TARDIS finished her scan of Rose. The Doctor tugged the med bay computer over to himself and looked through the readings, becoming increasingly more worried. Something was wrong, something serious, and the most concerning part was that the TARDIS couldn't identify exactly what it was.

He checked Rose's pulse again and was alarmed to discover it was much fainter than before. The Doctor quickly reread the results to see if he'd missed something; bruises, cuts, a variety of scars, two broken ribs, a fractured femur, and a half-healed broken radius, but other than that she should have been stable.

Except she wasn't.

The TARDIS was telling him that Rose was in serious danger, and he could see for himself she was getting worse. Her breathing was becoming ragged and her temperature was rising at rate that should have been impossible.

Really starting to panic now, the Doctor jumped up and tore through the cabinets, desperate to find anything that could help her. He stopped when he realised that he couldn't give her anything when he didn't know what was wrong in case it made her worse, and he almost screamed in frustration.

He couldn't lose her. Not after she'd only just somehow found a way back to him. There had to be a solution. He ran his hands through his hair, eyes wild as tried to come up with something.

Think, think, think! What did he need? He needed information, but there was none. So, he had to give her something that would heal her regardless of whether or not _it_ knew what was wrong. Where were Jack's bloody nanogenes when he needed them?!

And then something registered. There was one thing he could do, but he didn't know if it would work. And he didn't know what the side effects might be.

But Rose was on her last legs and if he didn't act _right now_ there would be no chance of her recovering. Without any more hesitation, he got to work.

 **Ta-da! This is just the prologue, I promise it will get better. Please let me know what you thought, the good and the critical feedback both welcomed :)**


	2. Reunion

**A huge thank you to everyone who favourited, followed, or reviewed! It's encouraged me to stick with it, now I know that there's interest :)**

The first thing Rose noticed when she woke up, eyes still shut tight, was the starchy feel of the linen bed sheets. Her heart sank immediately. She knew what that meant - she was in a hospital. She wondered what had happened this time, which accident from work had brought her here once again. She hoped it wasn't serious, mostly because she didn't want to have to listen to her mum's lecture (which Rose knew by heart) about how dangerous Torchwood was and how she should never have taken the job when Pete offered it, for what was probably the millionth time.

She tried to recall what had happened, and her eyes flew open as she remembered landing in the TARDIS.

The first thing she saw was the Doctor, sprawled out in a chair that had been pulled up to her bed, his eyes closed and mouth wide open. Her heart jolted in her chest as she gazed at the man – well, the alien – she had been trying to find for so long now.

He let out what sounded like a soft snore and she suppressed a chuckle. When they had travelled together it wasn't often that she caught him sleeping. He was always carrying on about how his superior Time Lord genes meant he only needed half as much as humans.

She studied his face closely and could see his eyes were ringed by dark circles, and was it her imagination or was he even skinnier than the last time they'd seen each other?

She hardly dared to believe this was real. The Doctor was right in front of her, a little pale and obviously exhausted, but he was here. She bit her lip. How was it possible? Watching the Doctor wriggle in his sleep, Rose quickly decided she didn't care. It had happened and that was good enough for her.

Even though she was itching to hear his voice again, Rose didn't want to wake him (he looked like he needed all the sleep he could get) so she settled for gazing around the med bay. She'd been here a few times before of course, when she or the Doctor had gotten hurt on one of their adventures, but it wasn't a terribly exciting place. She got bored quickly, until she realised the TARDIS had changed the roof to show swirling galaxies and brightly glowing stars. Like in Harry Potter, Rose thought to herself with a grin. She'd really missed the TARDIS, and how the ship seemed to always know just what she needed to cheer up.

From the corner of her eye she caught movement to her right and turned her head to see the Doctor sitting up and staring at her, suddenly wide-awake.

Doubt abruptly flooded her mind. What if he didn't want her here?

Pushing aside the terrifying thought, she managed a half-smile.

"Hey," she said softly.

His face slowly split into a disbelieving grin. "Hi!"

She took in his manic grin, and his crumpled suit, and the way his hair was sticking up at odd angles. She met his warm brown eyes, the very ones she'd thought were lost to her forever, with her own. Then, without warning, she was crying. Instantly the Doctor was up, hands hovering uncertainly over her.

"Rose, what's wrong?" He asked, voice urgent with concern.

She struggled to take a breath in between sobs.

"I just – I missed you so much!"

She saw him relax slightly and all of a sudden his arms were around her in one of their signature hugs. She buried her face in his neck and he held her a little bit tighter.

"Rose," she heard him choke out.

She squeezed her eyes shut and let herself cry. She had been through so much since they'd been divided and she never thought she'd have a chance to see him again, let alone hug him.

Out of all the things she had lost when she was separated from the Doctor, their constant hugs were one of those she missed the most. Without fail his warm arms made her feel protected from any threat. When she had fallen through the void into Pete's world, she had felt as if her whole world had been ripped from her. She'd felt vulnerable.

It made the first few months in parallel London almost unbearable. And even though she had eventually built herself back up again, Rose had never felt as truly _safe_ as she did when the Doctor held her.

She wasn't sure exactly how much time they spent hugging, but it was long enough that she eventually ran out of tears. At some point the Doctor had shifted so that he was sitting on her bed.

"Sorry," she sniffed, pulling back in embarrassment. "Ruined your shirt."

He lifted a shoulder in an unconcerned shrug. Reaching out to thread his fingers through hers, he smiled to reassure her that everything was okay.

He took a deep breath. "Rose, I missed you ... more than I can say. You're my best friend."

"And you're mine," she stated simply.

And that was all they needed to say.

Exhausted, Rose rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her back. For the first time in years, she felt as though everything would be okay.

* * *

Rose must've fallen back to sleep because the next thing she knew the Doctor was back in the chair next to her, reading a book in Gallifreyan. As soon as he saw she was awake he straightened up, setting the book aside.

"Hello!" He grinned.

She stretched out her aching muscles and yawned. "How long was I out?"

He rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously. "About twenty hours, this time."

"Twenty – ?! Talk about sleeping in!"

He grinned again before what he'd just said clicked with her. "Hold on, 'this time'? What about before?"

"...Almost five and a half days."

"What? Why?!"

His face darkened. "Rose… you were in pretty bad shape when you landed in the console room. You were covered in bruises and cuts, and you'd broken a few bones, which will have healed up while you were unconscious. Apart from all of that you were extremely sick, and I couldn't figure out why. I still don't know what was wrong. The TARDIS didn't have anything that could help so I did the only thing I could think of."

He didn't expand on the statement, and seemed to be unable to look up from his converse to meet her gaze.

"Well?" she prodded, becoming increasingly nervous as she watched the Doctor's evasive behaviour. She knew he would never intentionally cause her harm, but if she'd been dying and he'd had no other choice…

She bumped him gently with her shoulder. "C'mon, don't leave me in suspense!"

He looked directly at her now, agitation obvious in his every movement, before blurting out, "I did the only thing I could – I didn't have any other choice, you were dying, Rose! But I didn't know how it would affect you, if there would be any permanent side effects, so to speak..."

Uh oh. Suddenly she didn't want to know. Not now. Not when they'd only just been reunited. She knew, logically, that they'd have to talk about whatever was wrong with her, but for the moment she simply wanted to be carefree Rose Tyler in the TARDIS with the Doctor.

He was still rambling, "I'm sorry, Rose. Really I am. If there any other way –"

She held up a hand to stop him. "Okay, that's enough."

He tilted his head in a silent question.

"I don't wanna know yet."

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off.

"No, hear me out. Is it anything I absolutely _need_ to know within the next 24 hours?"

He hesitated, considering. "Well, I suppose not, but – "

"Then it can wait until I'm feeling up to having this conversation," she interrupted firmly.

The Doctor leant back in his chair, looking reluctant but obviously not willing to press the subject.

"Well then, Rose Tyler," he said, causing her to beam at the familiar way he pronounced her name. "I believe we've got a bit of catching up to do. Fancy some chips?"

"Ohh, yes please!" She nodded in delight. "I haven't had any decent chips since I left. I'll just have a shower real quick."

"Of course," he agreed, holding out his hand to help her out of the bed. "I'll be waiting in the kitchen when you're ready."

* * *

The hot water of her shower was heavenly. Rose spent five minutes just letting the water warm her up, taking away the aching in her muscles. Finally shutting the water off, she stepped out of the shower, dried herself, and moved into her old room.

Everything was exactly as she remembered it, from the bright pink walls and the photos on the dresser to the jeans she'd left lying on the floor the day before Canary Wharf.

She picked her outfit without much thought for anything other than comfort, just a t-shirt and some trousers, before making her way through the TARDIS corridors to the kitchen, where she found the Doctor sitting at the bench staring at the bowl of chips in front of him. He was frowning slightly, as though he was thinking about something troubling. Probably whatever it was that went wrong when he tried to heal her, Rose concluded.

As soon as she walked in though, he looked up and snapped out of his pensive state.

"Feeling better?" He asked with a smile.

"Heaps, ta." Rose took the seat opposite him and pulled the chips towards herself. "These look gorgeous."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to brag, but I made some pretty mean chips."

"You mean the TARDIS makes them and you take all the credit?" She teased him, sticking her tongue between her teeth and grinning.

He gasped in mock outrage. "I'll have you know, Rose Tyler, that I am a fantastic chef."

"If you say so," she shrugged, popping a chip into her mouth and humming appreciatively. "Mmmm, they just don't make them like this in Pete's world."

"Don't they?" The Doctor asked in surprise.

"Nope. Everywhere I went the chips had a weird flavour. Their chocolate though – _so_ much better than ours."

"Not as good as Thaxatoorian chocolate, I bet. Did I ever take you there? Huge monuments dedicated to the Cocoa Gods –"

She let him ramble on, content to watch his exaggerated hand gestures and fanatical facial expressions. Rose was almost surprised at how easily they slipped back to their old banter. It was comforting to know that no matter how much time had passed things would never become awkward between them.

They kept chatting about trivial things until the chips were gone and Rose knew it was time to talk about more serious topics.

"So you're not – you don't have a new companion yet?"

He shook his head. "There was this one woman, Donna her name is, and you would've liked her, I think. She couldn't come with me but she said I needed to find someone who would. It's been a year though, and no one else seemed right. So…" he shrugged. "What about you? How long has it been since Canary Wharf?"

He said the last two words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. She definitely knew how he felt.

She cleared her throat. "Three years."

He raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

"Yep."

"How did you manage to get back here?"

She stared at him blankly, wondering what he meant.

"Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled you did!" He rushed to add on, misinterpreting her silence. "It's just that when I was looking for a way to say goodbye to you I checked the entire universe for any holes that could potentially let something pass between parallel dimensions, and I definitely didn't find one here. So how were you able to get through?"

She frowned, perplexed. "You mean you didn't bring me here?"

"No, I –" His forehead crinkled in confusion. "I thought you must have somehow found a way through by yourself."

Rose shook her head. "I have no idea how I got here. One minute I was talking to dad and the next I was in the console room."

"And the scratches and bruises?"

"Huh?"

The Doctor huffed, although she suspected it was more out of concern than irritation. "When you appeared in the TARDIS you were hurt, Rose. Badly. You don't remember how that happened to you?"

She shook her head again, feeling very overwhelmed. The Doctor must have seen it in her face because he instantly backed off.

"Hey," he said gently, reaching for her hand over the bench and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "We'll figure it out later. It might take a while but we'll get there. The important thing is you're here now."

She gave him a grateful smile and he switched topics to distract her.

"So how is everyone? Mr Mickey still alive and kicking?"

"Yeah, Mickey's doing great," Rose answered, happy to tell the Doctor about what was new. "He's a senior technician at Torchwood now, dad might have had something to do with his promotion but that's only because he knows Mickey deserves it."

"You call Pete 'dad'?" He asked, appearing pleasantly surprised.

"Mostly, yeah. We got off to a bit of a rocky start those first few weeks, but we're close now. And mum's taken to the life of the rich and famous like a duck to water."

"Oh, I bet she has!" The Doctor responded, causing both of them to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Anyway," Rose continued after they'd got a handle on themselves. "Jake's about to lead a team over to Asia, apparently there have been a few suspicious disappearances over there lately and he's one of Torchwood's best men. Tony's getting bigger every time I look at him, I swear –"

"Hold on a sec, I don't think I remember a Tony?"

Rose blinked. She'd completely forgotten for a moment that the Doctor had never got the chance to meet her little brother.

"Oh, right. Of course." She patted her pockets for her phone to show him a few pictures and had a moment of panic when she couldn't find it. Realising it must be in her bedroom, she let the Doctor know she'd be right back and went to find it.

 **Please review! All feedback/questions/comments are welcomed :)**


	3. Nightmares

**Thank you all so much for all the follows, favs and reviews! This chapter's a bit angsty, but I hope you enjoy it all the same :)**

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair nervously. Who was Tony? And where had Rose gone? As soon as she'd left the room he became instantly uneasy. Being separated from her, even if it was only for a minute, made him start to doubt whether her appearance was real or whether he'd finally gone insane.

Rose rushed back into the kitchen, now clutching her phone – not her old superphone, he noticed – and looking slightly out-of-breath. If he had to guess, the Doctor would've said she'd ran back to him. Maybe the surreal feeling he got when they were apart was mutual.

She bounded over to his side and plopped down next to him, flicking through something on her phone as she talked. "So you remember that mum was pregnant, yeah?"

"How could I have forgotten?" He grimaced.

"Shut up," she elbowed him, but she was hiding her smile so he counted it as a victory.

"Anyway?" He prompted her, wondering where this was going.

"Yeah, well, five months after I saw you in Norway she had a baby boy, Tony."

The Doctor didn't miss the way Rose winced when she mentioned Norway, or the way her eyes softened when she said her brother's name.

"Here," she added, holding out her phone for him to see.

On the screen was a close-up of Rose beaming from ear-to-ear, cheek pressed against the cheek of a small blonde boy who looked about two or three and wore an identical grin.

The Doctor could stop the smile that spread to his own lips.

"Tony Tyler!" He exclaimed happily. "I like him already."

Rose tapped her phone and another photo replaced the first. This one was taken from someone walking behind them, and Rose was holding Tony's small hand as they walked through what looked like a park.

"I had Mickey transfer a few photos from the home computer to my phone," she explained as she tapped the device again.

The Doctor felt his breath catch in his throat at the next picture. Rose carrying a tiny baby, whom the Doctor assumed must've been Tony just after he was born, a look of absolute adoration on her face as she cradled him.

After a few moments of awed silence the Doctor realised that Rose was making no move to flick to the next photo. He glanced up to see her staring at the phone, eyes suspiciously bright.

"I'm never going to see him again, am I?" She whispered, her voice cracking.

Ah. He'd been expecting this. Rose had been taking everything so well that he knew the reality of the situation hadn't fully hit her yet. Although apparently it was quickly catching up.

He didn't answer, instead opting to pull her into a tight hug.

"I didn't even say goodbye to mum," she said brokenly, and the Doctor's hearts ached at the raw pain in her voice. More than anything he wanted to tell her it would be okay, but he knew that was a promise he couldn't keep.

He cleared his throat. "I've already asked the TARDIS to search for any way we to send through a message. We must have missed the hole that you came through, so maybe there are more gaps out there."

Rose's breathing hitched. "Pretty unlikely though, yeah?" She whispered against his chest.

It _was_ a long shot, considering he'd already tried to find a way when he'd said goodbye to her a few months ago, but he felt awful crushing any hope she might have left. He thought about lying to her, but almost instantly dismissed the idea as stupid.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry, Rose."

She nodded and pulled back slightly. "If – if there is a way, how long…?"

"I'm not sure. It could take days, years, seconds. It took weeks to find a hole I could use to send a projection through to you in Norway."

She sniffed loudly. "God, I swear I never used to be this emotional."

"Well you've had a rough few days," he reasoned. "I think you've got a right to be upset."

"I suppose so," she sighed.

Silence stretched between them as Rose composed herself.

"Could we…" she began hesitantly. "Could we go somewhere?"

Slightly surprised, although straight away realising he should have been expecting the request, the Doctor leant back in his chair.

"Sure, where were you thinking?"

"I don't know, anywhere. Away from here. Someplace exciting!"

He sighed internally. How many times had he dove headfirst into a dangerous adventure on some new planet to escape from his problems? Far too many. And now Rose was going down the same path.

He didn't want to push her though, neither of them could afford for anything to come between them. The Doctor was the only person she had left in this world, and he was determined to be someone she could rely on to turn to, not to order her around. Promising himself he'd keep a close eye on her, even closer than he used to, he plastered on a smile.

"All of time and space at your fingertips, Rose Tyler!"

She bounced up and down excitedly and his faux smile morphed into a genuine grin at her enthusiasm. He'd missed her.

* * *

Rose's first night in the TARDIS was simultaneously one of the best and worst nights of the Doctor's very long life.

After staying up until she could keep herself awake no longer, Rose finally fell asleep against him on the lounge where they'd spent the night talking. The Doctor didn't want to move her for two reasons. The first was that he didn't want to disturb her. The second was he didn't think he could bear letting her out of his sight. He knew she would probably be more comfortable in her bed though, and Rose's comfort easily trumped his own feelings.

With a sigh of regret, he scooped her up and carried her to her bedroom. His hearts stuttered as she instinctively leant into him while he walked.

He reached the room and placed her as gently as he could on the bed, carefully removing her shoes before pulling the sheets over her. He brushed a few strands of blonde hair out of her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, reluctant to leave.

He returned to the console room and scrubbed at his face, positive that like every other night for the past year he wouldn't get much sleep, albeit for the opposite reason this time. Rose was onboard the TARDIS.

He felt like dancing around the room and racing straight back to Rose's side and curling himself into a ball and sobbing for pure joy. He did none of it, however, and instead resigned himself to a night of tinkering with his ship, although he suspected he would be too distracted to get any real work done.

He was still at it a few hours later when he heard Rose start to shriek in agony. Terror stabbed him to the core and, fully convinced that she was dying from something he'd overlooked, he bolted down the corridor to her room, flinging the door open without a second thought.

She was thrashing in her sleep, blankets twisted around her. He was by her side in an instant and saw in alarm that the sheets were choking her. Swiftly unwinding them from her neck, he dodged her flailing limbs while she continued to scream in anguish.

"Rose, you need to wake up," he cried frantically, "It's only a dream, you need to wake up, Rose!"

Her eyes snapped open to focus on him but they held no recognition. The Doctor's stomach twisted in horror. This was so wrong. Rose's eyes, which were _always_ warm and kind and compassionate no matter the situation, were filled with nothing but fear and pain.

She kicked out at him, and he felt her foot connect with his jaw.

"Rose it's okay," he tried to soothe, ignoring both the cold pit in his gut and the ache in his cheek. "It's me, it's the Doctor."

Sobs broke through her screams and he wasn't entirely sure that wasn't worse.

He saw something alter in her gaze though, as if she could see him now, and her shrieks gave way outright to the crying.

Finally able to pull the distraught Rose close to him without hurting either of them, he wrapped her in his arms and held her as she struggled to take in a lungful of air between the sobs that wracked her body.

"I'm here, I've got you, it's okay," he murmured repeatedly as he rocked her.

After an hour she'd calmed down a fair bit, and after two she was so silent he thought she must have fallen asleep in his arms.

It was only when he moved – his arm was getting pins and needles – and Rose whimpered that he realised she was still awake.

"Rose…" his ragged voice cut through the silence. He didn't know what to say. What words could possibly comfort her when she was hurting so much? The worst part was he didn't even know what exactly had caused it.

"Sorry," she whispered, sounding distressed. He knew her well enough to guess she was embarrassed at how completely she'd fallen to pieces, and it almost tore him apart.

"It's okay, you don't have to apologise."

"You shouldn't have had to deal with that. Thank you for staying, Doctor. I'll be okay if you want to leave now."

She gave his chest a gentle pat but didn't meet his eyes.

She was giving him a chance to run, he realised. Run away and refuse to look back like he normally did. She was trying to let him keep that, but he couldn't let her. He couldn't just shrug it off and walk away anymore. Not this. Not with Rose.

"I'm good here," he told her, sliding down so he was more lying than sitting, which resulted in her cheek resting on his chest.

Eventually she really did drift off but the Doctor remained wide-awake, listening to the peaceful in and out of her steady breathing. He spent the night marvelling at the fact that she was here with him and vowed to himself he'd do whatever it took to keep her safe, and that they'd never be split up again.

* * *

They didn't talk about it, per se, but after that night it became an unspoken understanding that they would sleep in the other's arms. When they did, Rose had no more nightmares, at least none the same calibre as the first, and the Doctor found that he was sleeping more peacefully than he had since before even the Time War.

He generally woke up before her – needing only half the amount of sleep she did – and spent his time either adding settings to his sonic screwdriver or watching Rose.

Worried that this was vaguely creepy, he brought it up with her and felt better when she told him that if anything it made her feel safer to know he was watching over her.

So they slipped into a routine, chasing after monsters during the day and protecting each other from more terrifying demons at night. The Doctor began to grow increasingly worried about telling Rose the truth of what he had done the day she'd arrived back onboard the TARDIS, but Rose was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that anything was wrong.

The worst part was that he could almost convince himself that everthing was back to normal, from back before Canary Wharf and parallel worlds and words left unsaid. But of course it wasn't, and the truth would come out eventually. He only hoped he was strong enough to cope with the aftermath.

 **I'll be introducing the season rewrite aspect in the next chapter or two but I felt like it was important to set the foundations first. Let me know what you think!**


	4. Side Effects

**Hello! A huge thank you for all the follows and favs. I got some feedback about the last chapter that has definitely been taken on board, thank you :D**

 **Also I've been asked to do a recap before each chapter, which I think is a good idea :) I won't do one for every chapter (unless that's what you guys want) but when I feel there's something important you need from a previous chapter I'll add one here.**

 **So:** _"Something was wrong with Rose, something serious, and the most concerning part was that the TARDIS couldn't identify exactly what it was… There was one thing he could do, but he didn't know what the side effects might be... Rose was on her last legs and if he didn't act_ right now _there would be no chance of her recovering. Without anymore hesitation, he got to work."_

* * *

"Alright, then. Out with it," Rose demanded.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, not quite sure what she was talking about.

"Whatever's wrong with me," she clarified. "You've been on edge since I came back and I know it has something to do with those side effects from whatever you did to save me when I arrived. So spit it out."

"Now?!" He asked incredulously, "You want to talk about this _now_?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

It had been almost three weeks since Rose appeared in the TARDIS console room and she and the Doctor had spent their time bouncing directly from one adventure to the next without stopping.

In a silent, mutual agreement, neither of them mentioned returning to Earth. The Doctor suspected that Rose was avoiding it for a very specific reason. When she went back to London next – the place that had been Home for nineteen years – and no one was there waiting for her, the situation would become all too real.

He was happy to humour her, for the moment at least, so they kept running. That is, until they'd been charged for breaking some obsolete law on the planet Beyeca and tossed in jail amongst the indigenous species' criminals, which was where they were now.

He was pacing up and down in the limited cell space that was available and she was cross-legged on the floor, eyes tracking him back and forth as she waited for a response. Of course, she _would_ want to talk about the very thing that was eating away at him in the most inappropriate place possible.

"We're not exactly in the most private of locations," he reminded her pointedly. "Uh, no offense." This was directed at their cellmate – a rotund, orange-skinned Beyecan with a heavy-set jaw.

The alien grunted. "Don't mind me."

"See? He doesn't care," Rose said cheekily. The Doctor rolled his eyes and she continued in a quieter voice. "Besides, I… I'd like to know, please."

He couldn't argue with her there. She had a right to demand an answer about what was happening to her whenever she wanted. He inhaled deeply. The moment of truth. He'd been dreading this ever since he knew what was going on. How would she react? Would she hate him? Want to leave, maybe?

Crouching in front of her and taking her hands in his, he started to explain. "I want you to know that I wouldn't have done this if I'd seen any other way –"

"Doctor," she cut in, eyes gazing steadily into his. "I know you would never intentionally hurt me. Whatever happened was because you were saving my life." She placed a hand on his cheek before continuing. "Whatever it is, it's not your fault, you hear me? Just tell me what's wrong, please."

Rose lowered her hand back into his and he swallowed nervously before restarting his explanation. "I sent you some of my regeneration energy. It wasn't until after I transferred the energy that the TARDIS worked out you were having issues at a molecular level, though we still don't know why exactly. Normally if you'd been hurt to the extent you were and I'd given you some of my regeneration energy it would have fixed you up and nothing more, but for some reason your DNA was fluxing when I tried to heal you, allowing the energy to combine, and alter it."

"Hang on, my DNA? You mean I'm not human anymore?" She looked horrified at the thought, and he brushed his thumb lightly over her fingers to comfort her.

"You're perfectly human, trust me. You've just got a bit of… Time Lord regenerative capacity. It means that you're now tied to my regeneration cycle – you won't age, or die of old age, until my final regeneration does."

There. It was out. She must be appalled at the way she'd been trapped into this life. He braced himself for screaming accusations, or hopeless crying, or both. Instead, she blinked.

"That's it?"

"That's – what do you mean that's – how –" he spluttered, forcing himself to take a breath. Rose clearly didn't understand the gravity of the situation yet. She would be cursed to live as he did, losing everyone she got close to, having her heart broken time and time again. And she would be stuck with him, because he was the only one left who would understand how it felt. His hearts soared at the idea of travelling the stars with Rose until the end of his days, but he pushed aside his own feelings to focus on how much pain he will have caused her.

"Rose," he tried in slighter calmer voice, "This is _terrible_. You'll have to travel with me until we die! You'll live hundreds of years!"

Her eyes narrowed abruptly. "Oh, I see."

Startled by the drastic change in her countenance, but thankful she finally seemed to understand how serious this was, he sighed in relief. When she practically ripped her hands away from his, though, he started worrying again. She had a right to be angry with him – it was his fault after all – but for some stupid reason he'd held out hope that she would forgive him. Her next words sounded slightly bitter, and he felt as if someone had tipped a bucket of ice water over him upon hearing them.

"If that's how it is, why did you even bother saving me?"

So, that was it. She would rather have died than live in such a way. If he had known at the time, what would happen and that she would prefer death to such a painful existence, then he would have let her go. It would have utterly destroyed him, he was certain, but if he'd known it was what Rose would have chosen he would have done it, for her sake.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have…" he trailed off as hurt flashed across her face.

Okay, now he was confused. What did she want from him? He would have honoured her choice, even if it shattered him.

"Fine," Rose said in a clipped voice that he had never heard from her before and hoped he never would again. "As soon as we're out of here I'll get you to drop me back on Earth and you'll never have to see me again."

She was going to leave?! He gritted his teeth and chanted to himself 'whatever Rose needs, whatever Rose needs'. She hadn't asked for this, the Doctor reminded himself. He had forced it on her, and he wouldn't stand in her way in she wanted to start a new life without him.

"If that's what you want."

"OF COURSE THAT'S NOT WHAT I BLOODY WANT YOU IDIOT!" She shoved him and he toppled over, landing on his bum.

The Doctor was officially lost.

Rose lowered her voice and continued somewhat shakily. "You've made it pretty clear that's exactly what _you_ want, though."

Where the hell had she got _that_ from?

"Of course I don't want that! There's nothing in the universe I'd like more than for you to stay with me!"

"But you said it was awful! You made it sound like the thought of me living for hundreds of years was unbearable!"

Ohhhhhhh. He was stupid. He was so unbelievable thick. Dense Doctor from Slow-on-the-uptake-ania, that's who he was. Trust Rose to be convinced that what he was so upset about was the thought of travelling with her forever, not over the fact that she would lose her whole world.

He attempted to clarify. "Rose, you're going to live for a very long time. You'll have to watch everyone you know, all your friends and family, age and die. There is nothing worse, nothing more painful than that. And _I did that to you_. If you want me to drop you off on Earth when we get back to the TARDIS, or find somewhere new to build a life without me I'll respect your decision. But you have to know it's the _last_ thing I want."

Rose had visibly calmed down, and the Doctor could tell she was no longer angry with him – although he wouldn't have blamed her if she was.

"Doctor," she said, voice quiet but determined and full of emotion. "Everyone I know that would age and die is trapped in another dimension, and I'll probably never see them again. _You_ are my family. If this means I get to stay with you, to stop you feeling pain like you just described to me, then this is the best thing that could've happened to me."

He held her gaze for a minute and, seeing that she was serious, a huge weight lifted off him.

She grinned his favourite tongue-in-teeth smile, cheeky and full of warmth. "You're stuck with me now."

"Stuck with you?" He played along with an answering smile, "That's not so bad."

A little more seriously, as if she needed to make sure he really was alright with her presence, she asked, "Forever?"

The Doctor pulled her into a warm hug.

"Forever," he confirmed.

They stayed in the embrace for a moment longer, until the unexpected sound of applause broke them apart. They twisted to see their cellmate beaming at them.

"Woo! That was better than an episode of 'My Inner Beye'!"

The Doctor very nearly rolled his eyes at the reference to the Beyecan daytime soap-opera equivalent. Instead, he settled for shooting the alien a sharp glare and the man hurriedly closed his eyes, pretending to sleep. Rose merely snorted in amusement.

* * *

The Doctor had planned on waiting a few days before bringing up the idea of a trip to Earth sometime in the near future, but to his surprise Rose beat him to it.

A few mornings after they'd snuck out of the Beyecan prison she asked him if they could visit London, biting her lip as she waited for his answer.

"Of course we can. I'll set the coordinates now. Any particular reason?"

She shook her head. "Just missing Earth, is all."

The Doctor hesitated, wondering how to prepare her for the disappointment ahead but Rose caught on to what he was thinking.

"Don't worry, I'm not expecting everything to be back to the way it was," she assured him. "I just want to spend the day somewhere familiar."

"Sounds good to me, then. The year will have to be after…" he cleared his throat. "How about 2008? Still fairly close to your time stream but won't interfere with anything that's already happened and cause a paradox."

Rose shuddered and he assumed she was remembering the paradox she'd caused while trying to save her father. Although maybe she was upset about the timing.

"We could try a different time, if you like?" He offered, giving her an out if she didn't want to go back so soon after Canary Wharf.

"2008 sounds perfect!" She bounded up to him and looped her arm through his. "We can have chips!"

The Doctor wrinkled his nose in fake disgust.

"It's 8 o'clock in the morning!" He protested.

"So?" She responded promptly. "You've got a time machine! Land us at lunchtime, genius."

He laughed at her expression and started the TARDIS dematerialisation sequence.

Rose kept up a stream of chatter all the way to the chippie and the Doctor was content to listen as she talked about her attempts to find a place that cooked decent chips in Pete's World.

"When Mickey started suggesting where to try next, mum just about lost it. Said we were wasting way too much time for a few fried potatoes," she chuckled. He was about to respond when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

He instantly stopped moving and Rose, who had been holding his hand while they walked and yanked back at his sudden halt, turned to him in concern.

"Doctor?"

"Something feels… off," he told her.

"Your Time Lord senses are tingling or something?" She snorted, raising an eyebrow.

"Something like that," he grinned. "But where…? Ah."

All around the hospital up the street he could see tiny disturbances in the air, as if it were shimmering.

"Plasma coils," he informed Rose. He waggled his eyebrows at her invitingly. "Care to take a look?"

x

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Rose muttered as she prodded the jelly on her tray. She'd just been admitted to Royal Hope Hospital, and she was definitely not impressed with their meals.

Beside her, the Doctor dipped his finger into her mashed potato for a taste.

"Well, it couldn't very well be me, now could it?" He argued calmly, and she hated to admit it but he had a point. "Two hearts, I'd be found out in no time."

"I suppose so," she grumbled. She was about to complain to him for the third time about the hospital gown she'd been forced to wear, when an older nurse bristled up to them.

"You'll have to leave now," she ordered the Doctor. "No visitors overnight."

Feeling panic begin to rise in her chest at the thought of being kept away from him, Rose tried to focus on controlling her breathing.

"Sorry, no can do," the Doctor told the woman flippantly, taking Rose's hand from under the tray and tracing random patterns with his thumb, which calmed her somewhat.

"Yes 'can do'," the nurse insisted with narrowed eyes. "No exceptions!"

With his free hand, the Doctor pulled out his physic paper and flashed it in front of her. The woman read it before relenting in alarm.

"If that's the case then - this once - you may stay." With a suspicious scowl at Rose, the older woman beat a hasty retreat.

"What on Earth did it tell her?" Rose wondered in amusement.

"Says here that you're a potential threat to the Royal family and I've been employed to keep an eye on you. Not sure how she bought that one but I'll take it." He winked at her and she laughed, attempting (and failing) to turn it into a coughing sound when she noticed the older nurse's distrustful glare from across the ward.

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head, thoroughly entertained by the whole thing, and she poked his side.

"Oi! What was that for?"

"You're laughing at me."

"I would never!" He defended. "I'm laughing _with_ you."

She grinned and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Sure you were."

 **I'd love to hear what you think :) Also, opinions on the recaps for when I do them: would you prefer me to summarise, or do it in quote form like I've used for this one?**

 **Next chapter we really get into rewrite territory!**


	5. Jones, Dr and Mrs Tyler: Introductions

**Thank you for the follows and favourites, and especially those who took the time to review, it really means a lot to me. I'm actually quite nervous about this chapter because it's the first rewrite! Enjoy:**

"Rose I'm _bored_."

"Yes, Doctor, so you've told me. Multiple times."

"Hospitals are boring aren't they? With the white walls and the sick masses. It's a wonder no one ever dies of sheer boredom in this place."

"Need I remind you that this was your idea?" Rose pointed out as he pouted.

"Yeah, but, you know. Plasma coils. I thought something interesting would've happened by now."

Before she could respond the curtain was swept aside.

"Now then, Mrs Tyler, a very good morning to you. How are you today?" An older man greeted, surrounded by a gaggle of doctors who Rose assumed were students.

"Pretty good, thanks." She answered automatically, not bothering to correct his assumption that she was married to the man beside her. At the Doctor's meaningful look Rose quickly added, "Not the best I've ever been though, being sick and all."

She was certain the Doctor was struggling very hard not to sigh at her terrible cover-up.

"Rose Tyler, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains." The man began, and the students hurried to write down his every word. "Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."

He turned to the closest student to him, a pretty woman roughly Rose's age, who stepped around the bed and pulled a stethoscope from around her neck. The Doctor got up from his chair and moved back to let the young student examine Rose, but she noticed he kept a careful eye on her.

"That wasn't very clever running around outside was it, you two?"

Unsure what she meant, Rose frowned slightly. "Pardon?"

"In Chancellor Street this morning? You came up to me and told me you liked my jacket." She nodded at the Doctor. "He took his tie off."

Rose said, "Seriously?" at the same time the Doctor asked, "What did I do that for?"

"I don't know," the girl answered, slightly confused. "You just did."

"Can't have been us," Rose told her. "We've been here since yesterday, ask the nurses."

"Well, that's weird," the young doctor frowned. "'Cause it looked like you two. Have you got any siblings?"

Rose stiffened instantly, her thoughts flying to her little brother worlds away. She knew that the best bet to avoid suspicion was to tell the woman she didn't have any siblings, but somehow that felt like a betrayal to Tony.

"I don't," the Doctor quickly interjected to save her from having to grind out an answer through gritted teeth. She gave him a grateful look and he rambled on, "Not anymore. Just me and Rose."

Rose felt her breath catch in her throat at the reminder that she was just as much his family as he was hers. The Doctor was smiling at her, eyes alight with something akin to love. Was it love? Rose told herself to snap out of it – the Doctor didn't love her. At least, not the way she loved him.

"As time passes and I grow evermore infirm and weary, Miss Jones," the elder man reprimanded the trainee doctor.

"Sorry," the girl responded sheepishly. She took out her stethoscope again and muttered a determined, "Right."

Rose almost felt bad knowing that because she wasn't actually sick the student could never get a correct diagnosis.

When the young woman was still silent after the examination, the teacher sighed. "I weep for future generations. Feel free to diagnose the patient anytime before Christmas, Miss Jones."

"Um, I don't know," she admitted with a self-depreciating chuckle before checking with Rose, "There's no chance you're pregnant?"

Rose's cheeks burnt red. She heard the Doctor splutter comically behind doctor Jones and avoided meeting his eye.

"No. I'm really not."

The older man interceded once more. "You rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart."

As he picked up the document in question, a spark jumped from the metal clip to his hand, and he dropped the chart smartly on the bed.

"That happened to me this morning," doctor Jones said, as Rose and the Doctor exchanged a look.

"I had the same thing on the door handle," a student piped up.

"And me, in the lift," added another.

"Well it's only to be expected," the teacher claimed, and Rose found his know-it-all attitude increasingly annoying. "There's a thunderstorm moving in, and lightning is a form of static electricity as was first proven by – anyone?"

"Benjamin Franklin!" The Doctor called out, smiling over at Rose and looking incredibly pleased with himself. Rose nearly laughed. Of course, the Doctor was more of a know-it-all than this guy would ever be.

"Correct," the man said, almost as though he were impressed, and started to move away.

"My mate Ben. That was a day and a half – I got rope burns of that kite, and then I got soaked."

"Quite." The teacher huffed out a chuckle, clearly unsure what to make of it. Rose could see his growing unease but the Doctor continued, oblivious.

"And _then_ I got electrocuted!"

"Ignore him," Rose directed to the head doctor. "Thinks he's funny."

"You think I'm funny too, admit it."

"You're an embarrassment, that's what you are," she teased. She saw with relief that the older man had dropped his suspicions and was leading the group of students on to the next patient.

The Doctor strolled back to her side and grinned. They both burst into giggles when the group had passed.

"He thinks you're insane!" Rose laughed.

"Who doesn't?" He joked.

The student doctor who had checked Rose glanced back to them curiously and they beamed at her.

* * *

The Doctor wandered around the corridors, on the lookout for anything unusual. The plasma coils were getting worse, and the spark they'd seen earlier coupled with the responses it had received were causing him to wonder what exactly was going on.

He passed a window and could see the coils so clearly he was certain that even the humans must be able to see them now, but as he left to find someone to ask the hospital was bathed in a harsh, white light. The entire place shook and he slammed against a wall before tumbling across the corridor floor.

As soon as it stopped he was on his feet.

"ROSE!"

He sprinted down the hall and slammed the elevator button. Hopping from foot to foot impatiently, he rapidly decided the lift wasn't quick enough and forwent it in favour of the stairs.

"ROSE!"

He was almost to her ward when the screaming started. All around him, people were crying and losing their composure.

He nearly had a hearts attack when he rounded the corner and saw Rose's empty bed. Panicking now himself, his hand flew to his hair reflexively as he wondered what he should do.

"Hey now, you're alright."

He'd know Rose's voice anywhere and that was definitely her speaking. He zoned in on where it was coming from to see his best friend crouched by a man who was curled in the corner wailing.

"Rose!" He called rushing over. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Doctor," Rose said, but the relief her words should have provided was marred by the gash, which was pouring blood, running along her temple.

He cradled her face in his hands and inspected the cut. "Looks nasty," he murmured sympathetically and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, buzzing it over the slash so that it stopped bleeding.

"That's not a permanent fix," he warned her, "We'll have to get it checked as soon as possible." He stood up and peered out the window, trying to determine what had happened. "Oh, now that's interesting. Guess what, Rose Tyler: we're astronauts!"

"Yeah, thanks Doctor, I sort of figured that out a while back."

"No, I mean we're astronauts by 2008 human standards; we're on the moon!"

"I can't believe we left the TARDIS on the street," she groaned as the pair of them helped the distressed man (who was by now presumably doubting his sanity) back to his bed.

"I saw plasma coils, I got excited," the Doctor defended.

"I shouldn't have made you stay the night though, you could've gone back to get her."

"Rose, it's fine. I'll get us out. I promise you."

She gave him a smile that caused his hearts to pound double-time. "I never doubt that, Doctor. I trust you. It just would've made things a whole lot simpler to have the TARDIS here."

"Well I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I'm not so good at simple solutions," he joked, hoping to get her laughing again.

It worked, and she added in fake shock. "You're not? I must've missed the memo."

"Alright now everyone, back to bed. We've had an emergency but we'll sort it out. Don't worry." The young doctor who had seen to Rose earlier walked into the room, sounding confident and in control as she gave orders. Not an easy thing to manage when you've just been transported to the moon with hundreds of other people and no explanation. The Doctor quickly pulled Rose back to their section, drawing the curtains and turning his back so she could get dressed into her normal clothes.

The student doctor was talking again, this time in disbelief. "It's real. It's really real! Hold on – "

Presumably, she moved towards the window because the Doctor heard her friend cry out in near hysterics, "Don't! We'll lose all the air."

"But… they're not exactly air-tight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would've happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?"

Impressed by her logic, the Doctor gave Rose a cursory glance to see if she was dressed and when she gave him the thumbs up he swept the curtain aside.

"Very good point. Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"

"Martha."

"And it was…"

"Jones," Rose supplied, and Martha nodded before doing a double take.

"Whoa, that cut on your forehead looks bad. Do you need me to take a look at it?"

"Thank you, that'd be great. Later though, once this mess is sorted," Rose said gratefully.

Now the Doctor really needed to know what was happening. The sooner they figured out what was going on the sooner they could save everyone and fix Rose up.

"Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?"

"But we can't be!" The medical student beside Martha sobbed.

"But obviously we are, so don't waste my time," he dismissed her.

"Doctor!" Rose admonished immediately, moving to put an arm around the girl. "My name's Rose. What's yours?" She asked the woman in a soft voice.

"Julia Swales," she sniffed.

"You'll be alright, Julia." Rose promised her. "My friend can be pretty insensitive but he knows what he's doing, okay? We'll get you out. You concentrate on helping your patients, and we'll help you."

Realising he'd been a bit harsh with the girl, the Doctor repented, although he soon moved on to the more pressing matter. "I'm sorry I snapped, Julia. Martha what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or –?"

"By the patient's lounge, yeah," she replied.

He turned, indicating to Rose with a jerk of his head that they should go. He liked Martha Jones though, she seemed smart and good in a crisis, so he made a spur-of-the-moment decision to see if she could keep up with them.

"Fancy going out?"

"Okay," she breathed.

"We might die," he warned, ignoring Rose's teasing grin at his dramatic declaration.

"We might not."

He paused, pleasantly surprised. "Good. Come on."

On seeing the girl still next to Rose he added as kindly as he could, "I think it's best if you stay here, Julia."

He grabbed Rose's hand as he passed, and the three of them made their way to the patient's lounge. Martha was the one to push the doors open and they all stepped out slowly.

"We've got air," she whispered, awestruck. "How does that work?"

"Extended air space like outside the TARDIS?" Rose asked him quietly, and he lifted his chin to scratch his neck as he thought it through.

"Could be, yeah. Let's just be glad whatever it is, is working."

They all walked up to the edge of the balcony, and stared out in awed silence.

"I've got a party tonight," Martha whispered, sounding as if she couldn't believe this was happening. "It's my brother's 21st. My mother's going to be really… really…"

"You okay?" The Doctor asked, worried that it might all be a bit much. Rose moved over to stand on her other side, ready to offer comfort if Martha needed.

"Yeah," the junior doctor said, a little too fast.

"Sure?"

"Yeah," she repeated, but she was shaking her head slightly.

"Want to go back in?" He offered, and got a much more definite answer.

"No way! I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same… it's _beautiful_."

He looked over at Rose, who was staring out at the surface of the moon, absolutely enraptured.

"Yeah, really is." He swallowed, knowing full well he was no longer talking about the location.

"How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are!"

He watched Rose's face light up at Martha's words and felt his own smile spread across his lips at her joy.

"Standing in the Earthlight, yeah Doctor?" Rose asked, finally glancing his way and blushing slightly when she realised he was already looking at her.

A little embarrassed that she'd caught him staring, but not enough to regret doing it and making her blush, his eyes darted away.

"What do you two think happened?" Martha asked seriously, snapping the Doctor's attention back to the situation at hand.

He decided to test her once again. "What do you think?"

"Extraterrestrial," she said with an air of confidentiality. "It's got to be. I dunno, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things… I had a cousin, Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home."

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. He noticed that Rose's jaw was clenched tight at the mention and wished she were next to him so he could comfort her.

"We were there, in the battle it was… I lost my family," the Doctor whispered.

Rose jerked her head up to meet his gaze and he hoped he was conveying how he felt. She was his family, and she had been even before they'd only had each other. He'd been lost without her. With a sad smile, Rose moved back to his side and he immediately reached for her hand.

Martha took a deep breath. "I promise you, Mr and Mrs Tyler, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."

"It's not Tyler. That's not my real name." He dragged Rose across the balcony as he talked, looking for anything unusual.

"Who are you both, then?"

"Well, I really am Rose Tyler," Rose reassured the medical student.

"And I'm the Doctor."

Martha snorted a laugh. "Me too if I ever pass my exams. What is then, Doctor Tyler?"

"We're not married," Rose corrected, a little too quickly for the Doctor's liking.

Did she not want to marry him? Why not? He was being ridiculous. They weren't even together, for goodness sake!

"You're kidding me? The two of you aren't married?"

Ignoring the urge to figure out _exactly_ what that was supposed to mean and trying to derail the conversation as soon as possibly, he confirmed, "It's just 'the Doctor'."

"How do you mean 'just the Doctor'?"

"Just… the Doctor."

"Honestly, that's what he's called," Rose put in. "Everyone just goes with it."

"Well, I won't. As far as I'm concerned you've got to earn that title."

Rose paused then gave a small nod, and the Doctor knew her well enough to see that she respected the girl.

"Right, I'd better make a start then," he announced. "Let's have a look."

He bent down to pick up a small rock and threw it as far as he could. It flew a few metres before hitting something and causing a silver ripple to spread out through the air from the impact.

"You were right, Rose. A sort of force field keeping the air in."

"But if that's like a bubble sealing us in… that means this is the only air we've got," Martha realised. "What happens when it runs out?"

"How many people in this hospital?" He asked.

"Dunno. A thousand?" She guessed.

"One thousand people," he muttered quietly. "Suffocating."

"That's horrible!" Rose cried, and he squeezed her hand.

"Why would anyone do that?" Martha wondered indignantly.

There was a far off boom and a rumble as three large spaceships appeared above them.

"Heads up! Ask them yourself."

A line of dark figures emerged from the ships, heading for the hospital.

"Aliens. That's aliens! Real, proper aliens!" Martha exclaimed.

"She's in for a bit of shock when she finds out about you," Rose muttered under her breath, nudging the Doctor with her arm. But he'd seen who had just landed and was in no mood for jokes – hyper-aware as he was of how much danger they were in. Especially Rose, who'd already lost a fair bit of blood.

"Judoon," he revealed ominously. "Come on."

 **Let me know how I did, I love hearing from you guys :)**


	6. JDaMT: ET Crime Fighting Department

**Sorry for the late update everyone, real life got in my way! Thank you to those who have followed, favourited and/or reviewed, you keep me writing.**

Martha Jones was having the weirdest day of her life. First the drama of dealing with Leo's 21st, then the strange encounter with the people on the street – the people who were with her now and insisted they hadn't been out of the hospital this morning – and suddenly she was on the moon and there were _actual aliens_ at her work.

She followed the strange pair inside, and they hid behind a large potted plant as they watched the aliens, the Judoon, on the level below. Martha watched with wide eyes as one took off its helmet to reveal what looked like a rhinoceros in a spacesuit.

"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop! I like a little shop," the brown-haired man exclaimed.

"I know you do," the blonde woman, Rose, replied in amusement.

Martha couldn't believe them. With everything that was happening and they focused on the shop?

"Never mind that," she said impatiently, "What are Judoon?"

"They're like police. Well, police for hire. They're more like interplanetary thugs."

"And they brought us to the moon?" She inquired.

"Neutral territory. According to galactic law they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth so they isolated it."

"So the moon is basically Switzerland for Judoon?" Rose asked.

"Hadn't thought of it like that but yeah, essentially," the man inclined his head. "That rain, the lightning, that was them. Using a H2O scoop."

Martha couldn't believe she was hearing this. "What're you on about 'galactic law'? Where'd you get that from?" But the two had already moved off.

She knew she had to stick with them. They were the ones with the answers and Martha wasn't about to let them out of her sight.

"If they're police are we under arrest?" She wondered curiously. "Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"

"No," the man replied, "But I like that. Good thinking! No, wish it were that simple."

"And we both know you don't do simple, don't we Doctor?" Rose prodded, prompting the pair to share a quick smile over some sort of inside joke. Martha resisted the urge to cough loudly just to bring them back to reality. Not married, what a laugh! These two were perfect together.

They soon turned their attention back to the Judoon below.

"They're making a catalogue, that means they're after something non-human," the man explained, and Rose looked up at him with something akin to fear. It was the first time Martha had seen the girl even bat an eyelid, so to see her clearly frightened was disconcerting. He continued in a low voice, seemingly without realising the effect his words were having on his friend. "Which is very bad news for me."

"Why?" Martha whispered, confused.

They both twisted to look at her and she thought about what his statement was implying.

"Oh, you're kidding me," she muttered. They couldn't be serious. "Don't be ridiculous."

They continued to stare, the man raising an eyebrow and the woman smiling in a way that seemed half pitying, half apologetic.

"Stop looking at me like that," she demanded. This had to be a joke. Right?

"Come on then."

They got up and Martha thought about it for a moment longer before shrugging it off. Nah, no way.

She followed them into an empty office room and told them, "They've reached the third floor."

Rose was sitting on the bench, swinging her legs, and the man was pointing what appeared to be a thin silver tube with a blue torch on the end at a computer. The tube was emitting a high-pitched buzzing noise.

"What's that thing?" She questioned them.

"Sonic screwdriver," the guy answered. Martha couldn't believe it – were these people not going to tell her anything?

"Well if you're not going to answer me properly…"

He looked up at that. "No, it really is. It's a screwdriver and it's… sonic. Look." He looked so sincere that Martha almost believed him. Not quite, though.

"What else have you got? Laser spanner?" She enquired, only half-sarcastic.

"I did have but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman. What's wrong with this computer?" He yelled, striking it angrily.

"Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" Rose joked from where she was perched.

"Yeah, that's helpful," he retorted tersely, and Rose looked slightly taken aback. "The Judoon must've locked it down," he muttered. "Judoon platoon upon the moon."

He rubbed a hand over his chin and through his hair so that it was sticking up all over the place. With his messy hair, Martha couldn't help but appreciate how good-looking he was. It was shame he and Rose were so clearly head-over-heels for each other.

As if to prove Martha's point Rose jumped up and moved over to her friend, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder which he covered with his own hand straight away.

He began talking rapid-fire and Martha could only just keep up. "'Cause we were just travelling past, weren't we Rose? We were just wandering. We weren't looking for trouble – honestly, we weren't, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, that lightning, that's a plasma coil, it's been building up for two days now, so we checked Rose in – I thought there was something going on inside, turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."

"But what are they looking for?"

"Something that looks human, but isn't."

"Like you, apparently."

"Like me," he agreed, "But not me. You're being suspiciously quiet, Rose."

"Just thinking," she murmured, biting her thumbnail. "I'm gonna go look for it in case you can't get the records up."

The man's demeanour changed instantly. "Absolutely not!" He snapped.

Rose raised an eyebrow and said icily, "I'm not a kid, Doctor. I know the dangers, and I also know the risk is worth it. What happens if the computer's permanently broken and we've wasted all our time in here? I go out now and it could be the difference between someone's life or death."

"You don't even know what it looks like!" He argued.

"Haven't they got a photo?" Martha cut in. If the Judoon had a picture then she and Rose could somehow get it off them and start searching for the alien themselves.

"Might be a shape-shifter," was the reply.

"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?"

"If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."

"All of us?" She asked, still not quite sure how she'd ended up in this situation.

His eyes flicked up to Rose and back to the computer so quickly Martha wasn't sure whether she imagined it.

"Oh yes. But if I can find this thing first –"

Without warning, the man gave a violent shout that caused both Martha and Rose to jump.

"OH, you see they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are so completely thick, they've wiped the records! Oh, that's clever."

Lowering her hand from her heart Martha asked, "What are we looking for?"

"I dunno," he said in strained voice, running his hands through his already crazy hair. "Say, any patient admitted in the last week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up." Referring now to the computer records.

"Is there anyone else who works here that might know of a patient like that?" Rose asked Martha, and she mentally ran through a list of possible people.

"Mr Stoker. You two keep working while I ask him."

She rushed out of the room to find her superior, hoping against hope he'd be able to help. She had a sinking feeling things wouldn't be that easy.

* * *

"Got it!" The Doctor exclaimed, "Let's go find Martha."

"I like her," Rose said decisively. "She's smart, and isn't freaking out on us."

The Doctor hummed in agreement. "Mmm. She certainly asks the right questions. I seem to recall meeting another young woman like that a few years ago."

"Oh?" Rose played along. "And how did that turn out?"

"Awful, I can't get rid of her!"

Although he said it with a cheerful air that told Rose the comment was light-hearted teasing, she couldn't help but feel as though something very heavy had struck her in the chest. Logically she knew that the Doctor had meant it as a joke, but with the recent revelation of her extended lifespan she still wasn't fully convinced he wanted her with him for the rest of his life, and it hit a little too close to home.

"Rose," he said hurriedly, deadly serious at the sight of her slack expression. "I didn't mean it like that." He placed a hand on her cheek. "I was just kidding around. You know that, right?"

Snapping herself out of it, Rose cleared her throat. "I know, yeah, of course."

Plainly unconvinced, the Doctor opened his mouth to speak but Rose cut him off.

"No, seriously. I was just being stupid. Us humans and our overreactions, huh?" She attempted to bring back their earlier banter.

It didn't look as though it had worked and the Doctor seemed about to protest when Martha came crashing down the hall.

"The Doctor's fixed the back-up," Rose informed her, jumping on the opportunity for a distraction.

"I've found her!" Martha responded.

"You did what?" The Doctor cut in incredulously.

The door down the corridor burst open to reveal figure clad from head to toe in black leather.

"Run!" The Doctor shouted, grabbing the girls' hands and tugging them forward.

The trio sprinted down the halls with the leather figure chasing them. They passed terrified patients and leapt down stairwells, narrowly escaping the Judoon who were moving up the stairs towards them. Good thing the space-rhinos were so slow, Rose thought to herself.

They kept running until they reached a small side corridor that the Doctor led them down. He ushered them into one of the rooms along it and sonicked the door just as the leather-man reached them. Rose took in the surroundings and discovered they'd ended up one of the radiology rooms.

"When I say now, press the button!" The Doctor commanded.

"But I don't know which one!" Martha cried desperately.

"Then find out!"

Martha immediately went over to the controls as Rose raced up to the Doctor's side.

"Rose, get behind the shielding!" He ordered, using the sonic to adjust the x-ray machine in the centre of the room.

Yeah, right, and let him blow himself up or something. "No way, I'm staying with you."

"Rose we don't have time to argue! You need to move, _now_."

She stood her ground. "Only if you promise me you'll be okay."

"I promise! Rose, _please!"_

Without wasting another second she sprinted around the radiation shield just as the leather figure broke through the door.

"NOW!" The Doctor screamed, and Martha slammed a big yellow button down, causing the machine to fire a light so bright they were forced to look away.

When Rose looked back, the thing that had been chasing them was lying face down on the floor.

"What did you do?" Martha asked.

"Increased the radiation by 5000 percent."

Rose's eyes widened. Surely that much radiation would be harmful, even to the Doctor?

"Killed him dead."

Rose rushed around the wall to check he if he was okay, but he held up his hand to stop her from getting too close.

"But isn't that going to kill you?" Martha voiced Rose's fear.

"Nah," he said casually. "It's only Roentgen radiation. We used to play with Roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all. Just can't touch me yet," he added to Rose. He sniffed and grunted, "All I need to do is expel it. If I concentrate… shift the radiation out of my body and into one spot… say my left shoe. Here we go, here we go, easy does it. Out! Out, out, out!"

Rose watched in amusement as he hopped around like a lunatic, kicking his foot out in front of him, and moving closer to the waste bin.

"Out, out, out, ah, ah, itches, itches, itches, itches! Ah, aw, hold on –"

He ripped the shoe off and slammed it into the bin. "Done."

Rose just grinned at him as Martha decided, "You're completely mad."

"You're right. I look daft with one shoe." He pulled the other one off and it joined its twin in the rubbish.

Rose bit back a giggle and the Doctor beamed at her.

"Barefoot on the moon!" He proclaimed happily.

Rose didn't even attempt to control her laughter at this point and the Doctor strolled over, grinning broadly, to where she stood. She leant against him to stop herself toppling over.

Martha studied them in disbelief for a moment before shaking it off and inspecting the motionless leather man.

"So what is that thing? And where's it from, planet Zovirax?"

"It's just a Slab," he answered, moving to where the medical student was crouched by the figure. "They're called Slabs. Basic slave drones, you see? Solid leather all the way through - someone has got one hell of a fetish."

"I know someone else who used to like a lot of leather," Rose smirked and the Doctor chuckled and got up.

"But who was that woman, Mrs Finnegan? It was working for her, just like a servant," Martha said as the Doctor went over to the x-ray machine and plucked out a very badly damaged sonic screwdriver. Rose gave an involuntarily "Oh," at the upsetting sight. The Doctor without his sonic was almost as strange a thought as this regeneration without pinstripes.

"My sonic screwdriver!" The Doctor cried in dismay.

"She was one of the patients, but –" Martha tried again but the Doctor spoke over her.

"No, no, my sonic screwdriver!"

"She had this straw like some sort of vampire!"

"I _love_ my sonic screwdriver," he said with a grimace at Rose.

"Doctor!" Martha exclaimed, snapping him out of his grousing.

The Doctor turned to face her, pitching the burnt out screwdriver over his shoulder, which caused Rose to wince.

"Sorry," he apologised to Martha, before grinning. "You called me Doctor!"

" _Anyway_ ," the medical student pressed on. "Mrs Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr Stoker's blood!"

"There's got to be a reason for that," Rose rationalized. "She doesn't have time to do something like that without a purpose, why wouldn't she be hiding?"

"Yeah, funny time to take a snack," the Doctor agreed. "Unless… no… yes. That's it! Wait a minute…YES! Shape-changer! _Internal_ shape-changer! She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it! If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she'll register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"

The three ran out of the room. Rose was ahead of them and as they rounded the corner she saw another Slab coming up the hall. She backed into the other two, pushing them down so that they were all crouching beneath a doorframe.

"Slab," she mouthed to the Doctor and he nodded, confusion fading from his face.

"That's the thing about Slabs," he informed the girls once it had gone past. "They always travel in pairs."

"What about you two?" Martha inquired. "You seem pretty inseparable. Are you like an extraterrestrial crime-fighting duo, or something?"

"Something like that," Rose snorted.

"Oi!" The Doctor protested grumpily, "Not always! Humans – we're stuck on the moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a blood-sucking criminal, and you're trying to give me a job title! Come on."

"I like that," Martha said quietly as they stood up. "'Humans'. Still not convinced you're an alien."

A Judoon appeared in front of them, speedily scanning the Doctor and declaring, "Non-human."

"Oh my God, you really are!"

"And again!" Then Doctor shouted, grabbing their hands and racing away from the Judoon. They ducked as the heard the sound of lasers being fired after them, rounding the corner, though not before Rose felt a searing pain on the back of her calf.

She hissed through her teeth, limping forward a step before resting her hand on the wall for support. The Doctor noticed straight away.

"Rose what are you doing?! We've got to keep going!"

"I think their lasers nicked me," she cried. "You keep moving! I'm human, they're not looking for me."

"Oh, not a chance," the Doctor growled. "I'm not leaving you behind."

He didn't give her the chance to protest, instead he scooped her into his arms and took off running again, Martha trailing behind them.

Although she hated that she was slowing them down, Rose couldn't help but delight in the fact that she was being held tightly to the Doctor's chest. They reached the floor below and the Doctor set her down gently, locking the door behind them.

"You are now, officially, the single most jeopardy-friendly companion I have ever had," he announced in exasperation. "Including Ace, and that's saying something."

He draped an arm around her waist to help her walk along the hall. Rose noticed her breathing was becoming more laboured with every step.

"Won't they find us here?" She asked uneasily.

"Nah, the Judoon are logical, and just a little bit thick."

They passed by the medical student, Julia, who seemed a lot more in control than the last time they'd seen her, as she held up an oxygen mask to a patient.

"They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky."

"Oh, that's reassuring," Rose panted sarcastically, slightly dizzy now.

Martha stopped by her colleague and bent down next to her, asking, "How much oxygen is there?"

"Not enough for all these people. We're gonna run out," Julia answered sombrely.

"How are you feeling?" The Doctor asked Martha. "You alright?"

"Yeah," the girl smiled in exhilaration. "I'm running on adrenaline."

"How about you Rose?"

Rose hesitated, not wanting to worry him, but her pause was answer enough.

"You lost quite a bit of blood from the cut on your head earlier as well," he noted anxiously.

Rose couldn't ignore the pounding in her head anymore and she felt herself sway off balance. The Doctor steadied her and led her over to the wall, which she slipped down gratefully.

"Go find Mr Stoker's office," she whispered, desperately trying to keep the world from spinning wildly around her to no avail.

The Doctor was reluctant to leave her but followed Martha with a promise of "We'll be _right back_."

 **I couldn't find a good place to stop but this chapter was getting a bit long. Any feedback is always appreciated :)**


	7. JDaMT: Gatecrashing

**Thank you so much for the continued support! I appreciate you all so much.**

Previously: Rose _couldn't ignore the pounding in her head anymore and she felt herself sway off balance. The Doctor steadied her and led her over to the wall, which she slipped down gratefully._

 _"Go find Mr Stoker's office," she whispered, desperately trying to keep the world from spinning wildly around her to no avail._

 _The Doctor was reluctant to leave her but followed Martha with a promise of "We'll be right back."_

* * *

True to his word, the Doctor returned less than two minutes later.

"She's a plasmavore," he informed Rose, and she was grateful to him for trying to keep her in the loop even though she was nearly unconscious at this point.

"Think, think, think! If I was a wanted plasmavore surrounded by police what would I do?" He spotted the sign to the MRI room. "Ohh, she's as clever as me. Almost."

Rose wanted to take a crack at him for being so full of himself but her tongue was just too heavy.

Suddenly people were screaming around them and Rose heard the gruff voice of the chief Judoon. "Find the non-human. Execute."

She felt her dread for the Doctor's safety spike. Why wasn't he running yet?

He whirled to face Martha. "Martha, stay here with Rose. I need time, you've got to hold them up."

"How do I do that?"

He looked desperately at Rose, who by now was semi-comatose on the floor, only barely holding on to consciousness.

"Just… forgive me for this," he begged, and Rose couldn't tell whether he was talking to her or to Martha, or both. "It could save a thousand lives – it means _nothing_. Honestly, nothing."

Rose wanted to tell him to do whatever he had to do but she no longer had the ability to move. Martha nodded her consent quickly even though she had no idea what he was talking about.

And then the Doctor kissed her. Rose felt a wave of jealousy sweep over her before she was plunged into darkness.

* * *

When Rose woke, it was to find that something was pressed against her face. She attempted to pull away until she realised it was an oxygen mask. She saw Julia kneeling beside her and the medical student gave a small smile.

"You've only been out about two minutes," the woman told her. "Martha's run off."

Rose struggled to her feet, pressing the mask firmly to her face, before limping as fast as she could manage down the corridor, oxygen tank in tow.

"Where are you going?" Julia cried. Rose just pointed to a nearby patient and Julia got the message, rushing over to help the man on the floor and letting Rose leave.

She dragged herself determinedly towards the MRI room. She needed to help the Doctor. Rose reached the doorway just as Martha said, "He gave his life so they'd find you," and felt her whole world crashing down around her.

No. It couldn't be him. Not the Doctor. Martha must've been talking about someone else. But then one of the Judoon moved to the side and she could see him. She could see the Doctor's body on the floor, pale and lifeless.

Rose pushed her way frantically through the group of aliens, not caring what was happening between them and the plasmavore, and dropped to her knees beside the Doctor's head.

Gulping in huge breaths from her oxygen mask, she stroked his hair back with a hand that was shaking violently.

Why wasn't he regenerating? Had it happened too fast?

Whatever the reason, the Doctor was gone.

She heard a strange, high-pitched wail of pure agony and it took her a second to recognize that she was the one making it. She was vaguely aware of the plasmavore screaming something from behind the radiation shielding, but couldn't focus on it.

Only Martha's voice cut through the fog clouding Rose's mind, although she was startled to hear how close it was. The other girl must've been right beside her.

"But what did she mean 'burn with me'? The scanner shouldn't be doing that, she's done something!"

Rose took a deep breath. There were people still in danger. She needed to pull herself together so that she could help them.

She saw that the Judoon were leaving without helping to fix the scanner, so she hobbled over to the MRI controls. She could see two plugs, one red and one blue, but didn't know which one would detonate the machine and which prevent it from exploding. If she hadn't been so low on time and oxygen she might've laughed. Typical 'cut the red wire or the blue?' to stop the bomb.

"You can't go!" Martha was screaming at the aliens retreating forms, "That thing's gonna explode and it's YOUR FAULT!"

Evidently, her words had no effect because the medical student rushed back over to the Doctor's side and immediately began CPR.

Rose could've kicked herself. Why hadn't she thought of something as simple as CPR? Probably because he was a Time Lord. She'd been expecting him to regenerate, but Martha saw him as just another bloke. Rose paused, the gears in her mind turning and clicking into place. If Martha saw him as just another bloke…

Rose ripped the oxygen mask away from her face long enough to cough out "Two… hearts…" before she passed out once more.

x

The Doctor gasped to life and Martha collapsed next to him.

"The scanner…" The student doctor breathed, using her last bit of oxygen, "She did something…"

The Doctor felt as though his lungs were on fire. He gulped in as much air as he could, taking in the sight of the MRI machine, which was crackling with sparks of electricity.

He crawled over to the controls where he was shocked to discover Rose, unconscious and lying on the floor beside them. How had she gotten here? Concentrating on the task at hand, he reached for his sonic screwdriver only to moan in frustration when he remembered it had been broken.

He turned his attention to the plugs, a red and a blue, and tried to remember which one he needed to pull apart. He settled for the blue, then changed his mind at the last second with a small proclamation of "No."

The lightning surrounding the scanner died down and he gave a sigh of relief. Now all that was left was the fact that they were still stranded on the moon with almost no oxygen.

Scooping Rose up and making a mental note to come back for Martha, the Doctor staggered out of the room with the blonde in his arms, down the corridor, and into the ward Rose had first been admitted to. He stopped at the window, panting shallowly, and watched as the Judoon ships blasted off.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, please. Come on, Judoon, reverse it," he pleaded, and then gave an incredulous grin when he saw the plasma coils surrounding the hospital again.

"It's raining, Rose. It's raining on the moon!"

* * *

"You scared me," was the first thing Rose said to him when she woke up. The Doctor hugged her tightly for a minute despite the fact they were both sitting on the floor, sorry that he'd upset her.

"Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS," he said eventually, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. "I want to get that gash on your head patched up properly. How's your leg?"

"Bit sore. What about Martha?" Rose asked as they made their way out of the hospital and dodged the paramedics who tried to look them over. They could see their friend moving away from the back of an open ambulance and talking to another young woman.

"We'll come back for her," he promised. "Let's give her a chance to recover, yeah? We'll go to her brother's party."

"Oh, trust you to gatecrash," Rose ribbed just as Martha gazed up and saw them.

The Doctor held up the hand that wasn't holding Rose's to give her a cheery wave and half-smile.

The pair entered the TARDIS and the Doctor immediately set out to mend Rose's injured leg, which healed up nicely, and her cut. By the time he was done there was only a pale pink scar along her temple to mark where it had been.

"Hardly noticeable," he announced.

"Thank you, Doctor," she said sincerely.

"My pleasure. Now, how what you feel about inviting Miss Jones on a little thank-you trip?"

"Sounds great!" Rose enthused. "Let's just get cleaned up first, yeah? I've got blood all over this shirt."

He agreed, feeling the need for a change of clothes himself. He got dressed into his brown suit as fast as he could, but by the time he got back to the console Rose was already waiting for him.

"There's something I want to do before we go, please."

* * *

Julia Swales was at the end of her rope. It had been a very long week.

She'd decided to be a doctor after she left school, but was beginning to seriously reconsider. It had only been a term, but the extensive classes and training courses left her utterly drained, not to mention convinced that she'd never get to see the inside of hospital unless she was a patient. As well as dealing with the stresses of medical studies, her bestfriend had just moved to America for an office job. Even though Julia knew nothing about business, she was tempted to join her. Anything had to be better than this nightmare.

To top it all off she'd lost the bag with all her textbooks in it on the train the other day, and even replacing them with ratty, second-hand versions would cost a fortune.

There was nothing she could do about it of course, except whinge to her friends everyday for a week, but it made her wonder why she ever thought being a doctor would be a good idea in the first place. It was expensive and demanding.

With a drawn out sigh, Julia let herself into her small apartment and collapsed on the bed. She rolled over, miserable, before spotting a large package on her desk. She didn't remember bringing that in. Frowning in confusion, Julia hauled herself off the bed and picked up the parcel.

Blimey, it was heavy! She ripped off the paper to discover a stack of brand new textbooks, the same ones she needed desperately but had been avoiding coughing up the money to pay for. In shock, the girl searched for a note or inscription that would tell her who had sent them but all she found was a small piece of paper with tiny writing.

Julia, you're a lifesaver - Rose.

She had no idea who that was, or what Julia had done to deserve her gift, but by the sound of it she'd really helped this mysterious Rose.

She reread the note. Lifesaver. She liked that. Maybe if she kept at her studies, one day somebody else would be leaving her a little letter and thanking her for actually saving a life.

It wasn't until years later, when Julia had finished her training and was promoted to Resident medical officer, that she found the note again and made a connection between the name and the blonde woman who had shown up on the craziest day of Julia's life. She remembered how the woman had promised that she could help as long as Julia was able stay strong for her patients, and how she'd found Rose unconscious later on, and gave her one of the last oxygen tanks.

But… it couldn't be though same person, could it? Julia ran a finger over the aged writing. This had been written years before that day, there was no way Rose could've left the gift in her apartment before Julia had even become a doctor!

Then again, the new Resident thought with a small smile, stranger things had happened. She'd been to the moon once.

* * *

"Ready to get going?" Rose inquired enthusiastically as she bounded back into the console room from Julia's bedroom.

The Doctor hesitated. There was something he should probably bring up with her before Martha came aboard, but he really wished he didn't have to.

"Um, Rose," he stuttered, "About the… genetic transfer with Martha…"

"The what?" She asked, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"The, um, ah…" He tugged on his ear nervously, "That is to say, the – the kiss."

Rose's eyes widened. "It's fine, Doctor. I mean, of course it's fine. No reason it wouldn't be, right?"

He faltered slightly. "Right," he confirmed reluctantly.

He wished he could say something else, something along the lines of 'it isn't be fine because I wanted it to be you that I kissed', but he stopped himself. For one thing it was almost unbearably cheesy. And what if Rose didn't feel the same way? She'd already promised him forever, but what if she only saw him as a bestfriend? If he told her how he felt and she didn't feel the same, he'd be condemning her to an extremely awkward situation. She couldn't leave because she had nowhere else to go, but she might not be able to stay knowing the Doctor's feelings and not being able to return them. So he kept his mouth shut.

"Martha?" He prompted, effectively changing the subject. An expression he couldn't quite decipher flashed across her face.

"Sure. Let's go crash this party!"

He laughed and set the TARDIS to land roughly a street away from where it had traced Martha at 8pm the same day.

He flicked a compartment on the console open and a brand new sonic screwdriver appeared, almost identical to the last. At Rose's questioning look he explained. "The TARDIS makes them."

"I didn't know she could do that!" Rose exclaimed. "I should get her to make one for me!"

The Doctor smiled at thought of Rose with her own sonic screwdriver. It wasn't a bad idea actually, he should look into that.

"It takes a very long time," he clarified. "I suspect she's been working on this one since I regenerated."

Rose sighed. "Pity. That could've been really useful. Come on, then."

He linked his arm through hers and they left the TARDIS. They'd only gone a few steps when they heard a woman shout, " – has a go at Martha, practically accused her of making the whole thing up!"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Rose, wondering what was going on. Martha's familiar voice soon joined the other.

"Mum, I don't mind! Just leave it," she insisted.

"Oh, 'I've been to the moon'," came a high-pitched, mocking voice, "As if! They were drugged, it said so on the news."

"Since when did you watch the news? You can't handle _Quiz Mania,_ " snapped the first voice.

"Blimey," Rose whispered, and the Doctor was inclined to agree.

They rounded the corner and observed the scene before them. A blonde woman was the closest to them, and a man stood between her and a dark-skinned woman, the first speaker, who the Doctor took to be Martha's mother. Martha herself was even further back next to a young man and the woman they'd seen talking to Martha at the hospital earlier, who were arguing as well.

Martha was silent, watching the older trio bicker.

"Oh I am never talking to your family again!" The blonde spat angrily.

"Oh stay!" Martha's mother called after her sarcastically. "Have a night off with Clive!"

"Annalise! Don't you dare!" The man shouted to the blonde woman as she stormed off. "I'm putting my foot down!"

"Are you coming?"

" – Make a fool of yourself!" Martha's mother was shouting.

Clive stomped his foot before following Annalise. "This is me, putting my foot down!"

"GOD KNOWS YOU'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS – "

"Oh, Dad!" The young man exclaimed, quickly following his father.

"Annalise!"

" – WHY STOP NOW?"

"Mum, don't!" The girl by Martha cried as the older woman ran off in the opposite direction to the other three. "I asked the DJ and he's playing that song later!"

She pursued her mother down the street so that everyone except Martha was gone, looking more helpless than the Doctor had seen her throughout their entire time at the hospital.

She caught sight of them and the Doctor smiled at her. He tugged on Rose's hand and they withdrew to where the TARDIS was parked, waiting for the student doctor to follow.

"I went to the moon today," she stated when she found them leaning against the TARDIS.

"Bit more peaceful than down here."

He heard Rose sigh beside him and he glanced at her, worried. But Rose wasn't looking at him. She was staring at Martha in what the Doctor made out to be a wistful expression.

"They'll calm down," she reassured her, and Martha nodded in response, albeit somewhat glumly.

"Your head's looking a lot better," the junior doctor noted.

"Yep, all fixed!" Rose beamed.

Martha began walking slowly toward the two of them. "You never even told me who you are."

"The Doctor and Rose Tyler," the Doctor answered softly, slightly surprised that she was still questioning that. He almost laughed as her next words clarified what she really meant.

"But what sort of species? It's not everyday I get to ask that."

"Well I'm human, more or less, and this lump's a Time Lord," Rose answered for them.

"Right," Martha responded with raised eyebrows. "Not pompous at all, then?"

Rose laughed and the Doctor found himself smiling at the beautiful sound.

"You saved our lives, Martha Jones," Rose noted gratefully. "Seriously, you were amazing."

"We thought the least we could do is offer you a ride. I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver that needs road testing, after all. So what do you say? Fancy a trip?"

"We'd really love you to!" Added Rose eagerly.

"What, into space?"

"Well…" the Doctor let the offer hang.

"But I can't. I've got exams! I've got things to do! I've got to go into town first thing and pay the rent, got my family going mad –"

"You haven't told her the best bit yet," Rose grinned up at him, her signature tongue in teeth smile.

"Oh that's right!" He smiled, pretending to smack himself on the forehead. "We can travel in time as well."

Martha tilted her head. "Get out of here," she said sceptically.

"It's true," Rose put in, before giving the Doctor a pointed look. "Although sometimes his driving's a bit off."

The Doctor cleared his throat, feeling sheepish at the memory of Rose's first trip home, when he'd dropped her off 12 months later (well 11 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, and 12 hours later) than expected.

"Come on now, that is going _too_ far." Martha declared.

"I'll prove it!" He insisted. "Rose?"

With a nod of her head Rose disappeared into the TARDIS and he followed her, closing the door behind them.

"Right!" He yelled excitedly, "Back to this morning, remember when she said she saw us on Chancellor street?"

"Oh, of course! I'd totally forgotten with the Judoon and everything. What did she say I told her again?"

"That her jacket was nice."

"Got it."

They landed and he sprung out the doors in search of Martha.

"There she is," Rose pointed out as she stepped up beside him. "On the phone."

"Alright then," the Doctor rubbed his hands together. "It's showtime!"

They weaved their way through the crowd until they were directly in front of Martha.

"Ooo, I really _do_ like that jacket!" Rose remarked.

"Like so!" The Doctor directed at the stunned medical student as he took off his tie, before he and Rose strolled hand in hand back to the TARDIS, leaving a very confused Martha in their wake.

They giggled together as the Doctor programmed the ship to return to present-Martha, stepping out the front doors as soon as they landed.

"Told you," the Doctor said smugly, holding up his tie for Martha to see before starting to redo it.

"No – but… that was this morning!" Martha argued as Rose reached up to the Doctor's neck to take over adjusting his tie.

"But… did you – ? Oh my God you can travel in time!" She breathed.

"Pretty cool, hey?" Rose grinned at her.

"More than cool, that's – that's incredible!"

The Doctor gave a happy hum, satisfied with the amazed reaction.

"But, hold on – if you could see me this morning why didn't you tell me not to go into work?" Martha wondered.

"Crossing into established events is strictly prohibited," he answered seriously.

"… except for cheap tricks."

Rose laughed and the Doctor beamed along with her.

Martha gave them an amused smile. "And that's your spaceship?" She asked, moving closer for a better look.

"The TARDIS." The Doctor detected a hint of pride in Rose's voice.

"That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he chimed in.

She reached out a hand to feel the box and gave them an astonished look. "Your spaceship's made of wood."

"How about it, Martha? Will you come with us?" Rose asked again.

"What, all three of us in that tiny box? We'd be a bit cramped."

"Take a look," the Doctor offered, leaving Rose to swing the door open.

Martha took a step inside before turning and heading straight back out again, exclaiming, "No, no, no. But it's just a box… but it's huge! How does it do that?"

Rose was already perched on the TARDIS jump seat while the Doctor stayed by the door. They both waited patiently, and with a fair amount of amusement, as Martha repeatedly checked the front and the inside of the ship.

"It's wood. It's like a box with that room just… crammed in."

Grinning, the Doctor caught Rose's eye and the pair mouthed along over Martha's head as she exclaimed in wonder, "It's bigger on the inside!"

"Is it?" The Doctor feigned ignorance. "I hadn't noticed."

He shut the door and threw his coat over the nearest coral strut. "Right then, let's get going."

"But – is there crew? Is Rose like your navigator or something?"

Rose snorted. "If I am I'm doing a bloody awful job. We never end up where we're meant to."

Martha gave a faint grin. "Okay, but surely there's more people? Where is everyone?"

"Just me and Rose," the Doctor answered quietly. He was avoiding the gaze of the two girls but it was only seconds before he felt a familiar hand slip into his own. He glanced up to see Rose smiling sadly at him. She gave his hand a light squeeze, and the Doctor had never felt less alone.

He cleared his throat and said cheerfully: "Now then, close down the gravitic anomaliser," Rose darted around the console and twirled the right dial, "Fire up the helmic regulator," he himself pressed down the corresponding button, "and finally – the handbrake." Rose grabbed the handle, set to pull it down when he gave the word.

"Ready?" He asked Martha.

"No!" She said excitedly.

"Off we go!"

Rose tugged the lever down and the three were jerked in every direction as the TARDIS shook. The Doctor heaved himself off the seat that he'd fallen into and clung to the console, noticing the two women were doing the same.

"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy!" Martha cried.

"Welcome aboard Miss Jones!" He beamed, extending a hand for her to shake.

"It's my pleasure!"

She took his hand and added with a cheeky grin, "Mr and Mrs Tyler!"

 **So ends the first rewritten episode! I'd love to hear what you think :) Did you like the Julia section? I wasn't sure whether to include it or not, but I thought it might be interesting.**


	8. Goodbyes

**Thank you to everyone for the follows, favourites, and especially the reviews!**

* * *

"Where are we?" Martha asked in curious excitement.

"Well at the moment we're suspended in deep space," the Doctor explained. "But we haven't travelled in time yet - I wanted to give you the choice."

Rose smiled to herself, remembering her first trip and how they'd travelled to the end of the universe. Even though she loved that adventure and wouldn't change it for anything, it probably wasn't the best way the Doctor could have eased her into his lifestyle. At the time it had been completely petrifying, not to mention absolutely devastating, to be faced with both her own death and the destruction of her whole world.

Wanting to spare Martha from the fear and grief Rose herself had felt, she suggested, "Maybe it's best if we stick to Earth this time, yeah? Is that okay, Martha?"

"Yes please, I think I've had my fill of aliens for today!"

"Okay," the Doctor conceded as the two girls laughed together. "You'll probably want to go _back_ in time then… let me think… AHA! Yes, I've got just the place! We just need to – "

He danced around the console, then stopped abruptly. "Ah, actually, on second thought, you must be tired Martha."

"Um, a bit, yeah?" The girl said, obviously confused by his rapid attitude change. Rose couldn't blame her.

"Why don't you go and find a room, take a nap? The TARDIS will make sure any door you find that'll open will be a bedroom you can use. Well, you might find the kitchen but the rest should be bedrooms. We'll wait until you wake up and then head off – don't want you fainting from exhaustion on your only trip back in time, now do we?" The Doctor rambled on, although without his usual cheeriness.

Rose frowned inwardly, sensing something was wrong. The Doctor was almost statue still, all of his usual exuberance drained. He was running a hand through his hair distractedly, and he seemed… forlorn. Besides, he wasn't normally so considerate of human needs.

"Um, yeah, alright…" Martha said uncertainly.

Rose smiled at her reassuringly. "Go on, then," she encouraged with a smile, "When you wake up we'll be in a whole different era!"

Martha returned her grin, and Rose was glad to see her words had brought back her new friend's enthusiasm.

"Alright, I'll see you two in the morning then. If there is a 'morning' on this thing."

Rose laughed but the Doctor remained silent.

"Not really," she answered for him. "But you get used to it."

With a grateful wave, Martha headed off down the corridor to explore. As soon as she was out of sight Rose whirled to face the Doctor.

"What is it?"

Still perfectly silent, the Doctor reached around and pulled the monitor into her view. In the top right-hand corner she could see a flashing red dot.

"What's that? What does it mean?" She pushed.

He inhaled deeply, as if he were steeling himself for something. "That dot represents a fissure in the skin between this universe and the next. It means you can say goodbye to your family."

* * *

The Doctor watched Rose carefully as his words sunk in.

"You mean – I can talk to them? Right now?"

"If that's what you want. I don't know how long the connection will last – to be honest I didn't think the TARDIS would find a way through – but there's enough time to send through a message and a visual projection, like I did for you."

Rose bit her lip. "Would we have to send through the message first?"

"Not necessarily," he answered slowly, thinking it through. "We could send it through after the visual link as long as I encode it with a residual time loop from our projection."

He could tell from her eyes that he'd lost her with the technical babble, but that she caught the gist of it.

"I can say goodbye," she repeated his earlier words, dazed. The Doctor was growing progressively more concerned. He moved to her side and put his hand over hers before leading her to the jump seat and making her take a seat.

"What am I going to say?" She whispered and he gave her hand a comforting squeeze, wishing he could do more.

"Hey," he said, voice soft with sympathy. He raised a hand to her face, lightly stroking her cheek with his thumb. "You don't have to do this now. We can wait, the connection won't go anywhere."

"I can't," she said thickly, eyes shining with unshed tears. "What if something happens on our next trip and I don't make it back?"

The Doctor felt sick at the thought.

"Don't say that," he pleaded, reaching for her hand again.

"But what if it does!" Her voice was rising now, becoming increasingly agitated. "What if I die and I never said goodbye to them? What if they have to go their whole lives not knowing where I went? What if I never get to see them again?"

He could see the exact moment when she made up her mind. Rose glanced up at him and her eyes betrayed how scared she was, but beyond that he could see her determination.

"I have to do it now," she told him firmly. "If I wait any longer I'll be a wreck and… I don't want that to be their last memory of me."

The Doctor's response was caught in his dry throat. He swallowed a few times before managing to say, "You're a hundred percent sure you don't want to do this later?"

Rose shook her head, whispering, "I can't."

He studied her for another second before rushing around the console, and the TARDIS took off again. He didn't feel too guilty about Martha, they weren't going to leave the ship after all, so it didn't really count as her first trip. Besides, with the day she'd had he wouldn't be surprised if the medical student was dead to the world already. With any luck she'd sleep right through this and, if Rose was feeling up to it, they could leave when she woke up. The Doctor avoided thinking about what would have to happen if Rose wasn't up to diving straight into somewhere new.

Rose slid off the jump seat, waiting for him to finish setting everything up. He normally would have babbled on to her about how this was possible – the gap that the TARDIS had found (which definitely had NOT been there when he searched for the means to say goodbye to Rose a year ago, a fact that worried him greatly and in under any other circumstances he would have considered top priority to figure out) was large enough that it would provide the energy necessary to sustain the connection until eventually its power was depleted and the gap collapsed in on itself, sealing the tear permanently. But he knew Rose wouldn't want to hear any of it today, so he settled for simply saying, "Because the TARDIS has had a similar experience with this, the most likely location we'll appear is Dalig Ulv-Stranden."

Rose nodded mutely, pressing her lips together.

"You just stand here, and when I point the sonic at that point there, the projection will begin."

"Let's do it," she said shakily.

He stood by her side, and she clutched his hand tightly.

"I'm right here," he assured her. "But it's not too late to do this another time…" He broke off as she shook her head vehemently.

"Alright, well if you want me to leave at any point just say the word." He hated having to say it, even just the thought of not being able to comfort her while she was upset troubling him.

"Will you stay the whole time, please?" She gazed up at him, beautiful brown eyes wide and scared, looking more vulnerable than he'd ever seen her. The Doctor would take regeneration over seeing Rose like this, any day.

"I'm not going anywhere unless you change your mind," he promised, relieved that at least she wasn't planning on sending him away.

Rose took in a shuddering breath and said, "Now, please."

He turned on the sonic and within moments Jackie Tyler flickered into view, nearly transparent.

"Mum!" Rose cried out. The Doctor widened the beam and Pete appeared next to Jackie, carrying three-year old Tony. He flicked the sonic once more and Mickey came into view on Jackie's other side. With a final point, the four of them solidified and it appeared as though they were on the same beach in Norway as last time.

"Rosie!" Her little brother squealed, reaching out to touch her.

"Sorry Tone," she smiled sadly, tears already collecting in the corners of her eyes. "I can't hug you."

The little boy withdrew his hand, crestfallen, and snuggled into his dad's side.

"Rose, what happened?" Jackie asked her daughter tearfully, "How did you get over there?"

I don't know," Rose sniffed, gripping the Doctor's hand for support. "One minute I was talking to dad and the next I was in the TARDIS."

"You were glowing, love," Pete chimed in. "Your eyes were golden and you started to glow, before I could do anything you were just… gone."

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully. "Sounds like Bad Wolf – but I took that out of you?" He said, turning to Rose.

She gave a non-committal shrug and he reminded himself there were more important things to worry about now. The two of them would figure out what happened later. He directed his attention back to the small group of people on the beach, and Mickey spoke up for the first time.

"I reckon it was the D.C, but we've got no way of knowing." The Doctor wondered briefly what the D.C was, but didn't interrupt Mickey's goodbye. "We're just glad you're safe, Rose."

She nodded, attempting a smile but not quite managing it.

"I love you all. Don't – don't forget that, please."

"Oh, sweetheart, we love you too," Jackie told her, voice cracking.

"When are you coming home Rosie?" Tony piped up. "I miss you!"

The poor boy was struggling to understand what was going on, glancing between Rose and his parents with confused hazel eyes. Rose gulped and tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand, "Not for a very long time, buddy."

"A week?!"

His sister gave a watery chuckle but it quickly faded. "I'm sorry, Tony. No matter how long it is I want you to remember that even though we can't see each other, I still love you, okay?"

"'K," the blonde toddler whispered, rubbing his eyes.

"You be careful out there," Pete instructed, face free of tears but his voice betrayed him with a slight wobble.

"And you –" Jackie rounded on the Doctor, who had to consciously stop himself from instinctively taking a step back. "Keep her safe. You hear me? She's only got you now so you – you take good care of her!"

Jackie's eyes were begging, and he swallowed past the lump in his throat to say "I will. Of course I will."

She nodded gratefully. "Don't forget to look after yourself as well," she ordered.

If the Doctor wasn't careful _he'd_ start crying. Although he would never admit it, he truly cared for Jackie Tyler. They'd had their differences, certainly, but the one thing they always had in common was Rose. Both of them loved her unconditionally, and that had created a sort of bond between the two of them. Outwardly they just barely tolerated each other, but their insults and repartee hid an unspoken affection.

"You too, Jackie," he responded softly.

The TARDIS let out a warning beep. The Doctor had programmed it before the transmission, not wanting a repeat of his farewell to Rose when he hadn't had the chance to tell her that he loved her. Maybe if he'd said it then it would've been easier to tell her now. He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment.

"30 seconds," he warned.

Rose tensed beside him, and a chorus of noise erupted from both sides.

"I love you, Rose!" Jackie called desperately.

"I love all four of you so much!" Rose said, voice breaking. The Doctor could tell she was just barely keeping herself together.

"We'll be alright, don't worry about us," Mickey added hoarsely, trying to reassure her. "Take care, boss."

"You too, Mickey Smith – not such an idiot, after all." The Doctor inclined his head respectfully.

"Stay safe please, love," Pete implored his daughter.

"You too, dad," she gasped between sobs.

"Rosie?" Tony Tyler squirmed in his dad's arms.

"I miss you all," Rose whispered and the next moment the beach and its occupants had faded from sight.

Rose twisted into him so her forehead was pressed against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed in earnest. The Doctor rubbed calming circles on her back as the damp patch on his chest blossomed. She began to shake violently so he slowly sunk to the floor with his best friend in his arms, and they sat on the TARDIS grating together. He let her cry, ignoring the way each sob sliced straight through him, and hoped that his presence was helping her somehow, even if it was only in the tiniest of ways.

* * *

Martha couldn't sleep. It was strange – she'd had the most absurd, tiring, and literally breath-taking day she'd ever had. By all rights she should be unconscious. But sleep evaded her.

The Doctor had been acting so strange those last few minutes… it was as if someone had flicked a switch and his whole attitude had changed. At least Rose had still been herself.

When Martha had set off down the hallway to find somewhere to sleep with the faint murmuring of Rose and the Doctor issuing from behind her, she had fully intended to spend a good half hour exploring potential room choices. As soon as she'd walked into the first room with a door that would open for her, however, she decided this would be the one.

The room was spacious, with a large walk-in wardrobe, a queen sized bed, and a door which she soon discovered led to an en suite. The bedroom walls were a soft cream colour, but were kept from being boring by a beautiful blue trim and a small number of paintings that, despite never being a huge art fanatic, Martha could see complimented the room's colour scheme perfectly.

Martha had immediately memorised the route she taken to get there (down one corridor, a left turn, then down the end of another hallway) so that she could find her way back to the control room if need be.

She'd shut the door, thrown her jacket on the end of the huge bed and rummaged through the drawers for something to wear. Deciding on a soft pair of flannel pyjamas, she got changed before collapsing on the bed and letting out a long sigh of contentment. This mattress was _comfortable_.

And yet, despite her soft bed and warm pyjamas, she couldn't switch her brain off. So much had happened! In the last hour alone she'd been stuck in the middle of a heated family argument, discovered that time travel was real, and agreed to a ride in a spaceship with two virtual strangers! Although, Martha admitted to herself, she already saw the pair as friends. Who knew fighting alien thugs on the moon could bring people so close together?

Sighing again, she tossed and turned. When she was younger and had trouble sleeping, Martha used to wake up her dad. As soon as he saw that she was still awake he'd pick her up, carry her to the kitchen, sit her down, and make her some warm milk. She'd always fallen asleep within the hour.

After ten more restless minutes, Martha gave up and padded to the bedroom door, thinking that she might as well try to find the kitchen. Hopefully the warm milk trick worked as well for 23 year old Martha as it did for her 5 year old self.

As soon as she stepped into the corridor, however, she was greeted with the heart-wrenching sound of loud sobs.

Martha followed the noise, heart in her throat. Something was extremely wrong here. The crying sounded distinctly female, and Martha assumed it must be Rose. Was the other girl injured? Picking up the pace in case she needed urgent medical attention, Martha practically flew down the hallway. She slid to a halt as she reached the entrance to the console room, hesitating in the doorway.

She was met with the sight of her two new friends huddled together on the floor, the Doctor cradling Rose in his arms. Rose was curled into the Doctor's chest, her back to Martha, clutching at his shirt and heaving with devastated sobs.

Martha was struck with the uneasy sensation that she was intruding on a very private moment of grief.

The Doctor was rubbing Rose's back gently, completely focused on the girl in his arms. As Martha watched, debating internally as to whether she should leave them alone or see if they needed help, the Doctor closed his eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to Rose's hair. He tilted his head so that his cheek was resting lightly on the top of her head and opened his eyes, spotting Martha hovering uncertainly in the doorway. His intense brown eyes were impossibly melancholy, and Martha could almost feel herself shrinking under the weight of his tortured gaze.

They stayed suspended like that for a moment, until Martha broke the trance they were in by tottering forward a step. She wasn't sure what she intended to do, especially because she didn't actually know what was going on, but she felt compelled to help. The Doctor lifted his head slightly and she stopped moving instantly. He gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head and she took the hint, backing out of the room and into the corridor.

Once she was out of sight Martha almost sprinted back to her room, all thoughts of warm milk before bed forgotten. What the hell had just happened?

She reached her room and pulled the door shut, causing Rose's haunting wails to instantly cease. The rooms must be soundproof, she supposed. She laid down on her bed once more, certain that there was no way she'd ever get to sleep now.

She hoped Rose was going to be okay. The blonde had clearly been in an incredible amount of pain, but whether it was physical or emotional Martha couldn't tell. She assumed it was emotional – surely the Doctor would have been treating her if she was physically wounded, right?

And why Rose? If anything, the Doctor had been the one acting oddly when she'd left for bed. Try as she might, Martha couldn't figure it out.

Approximately half an hour, and several unlikely theories, later there was a knock at her door. Martha froze. She had definitely not expected either of them to visit her tonight.

"Come in," she called hesitantly.

The Doctor popped his head into the room. "Is it alright if I, um, talk to you for a minute?"

Martha propped herself into a sitting position against the headboard and motioned for the Doctor to take a seat at the end of the bed. Maybe she would get some answers after all.

The Doctor went to shut the door – Martha didn't miss the way he left it cracked open a tiny bit – and perched himself rather awkwardly at her feet.

"How's ...?"

The Doctor cleared his throat, effectively cutting her off. "Sleeping."

"Oh." Was all Martha could think to say. That hadn't been what she meant and she got the impression the Doctor knew it.

She noticed the way his eyes flicked back to the door every thirty or so seconds and knew he was dying to go check on Rose. So what was stopping him? Why was he even in Martha's room? Well, she supposed, it _was_ his spaceship.

She inhaled deeply, trying to decide on the best approach to get some answers. She settled on starting with small talk, hoping to relax him a tiny bit.

"So… the rooms are soundproof, huh?"

The Doctor gave her a diminutive smile that she understood was gratitude at not diving into the heavier topics straight off.

"Only when you want them to be," he answered, keeping his tone casual. "If you want them to obstruct sound from either the inside or the out, the TARDIS picks up on it and blocks the noise. Useful if you're ever in a fit of rage and decide to destroy your collection of antique glass musical instruments from the planet Zenei while not wanting to disturb the sleeping blonde across the hall."

Martha raised an eyebrow, watching him tug his ear nervously as he spoke.

"Not that I've ever… ahem – hypothetically, of course."

"Of course," she repeated, placating him.

His eyes darted to the door again and Martha remembered the events of the night.

"Are _you_ okay?" She asked, recalling the haunted look in his eyes.

The Doctor glanced at her, seemingly taken aback. He paused before saying, "I'm fine. I'm always alright."

Very much doubting that, but not willing to push the subject, she let it go. Martha could see that he was struggling to keep himself together at the moment and she suspected he was only really trying for her benefit.

Without warning, the twenty-three year old was almost overcome with exhaustion. It had been the most emotionally charged day of her life, and she was fed up with it. She wanted a few answers, was that too much to ask?

Impatiently she said, "Look, I only want to know what's wrong with Rose. I won't be able to sleep until I know she's going to be fine."

"I can't promise that she will be," the Doctor answered grimly.

"What?! Maybe I should take a look at her." Martha made to get up but he held up his hands to stop her.

"No, really Martha, that's not necessary."

"Why not?" Martha protested. Even if the pain was emotional, Martha could still help her. Make sure Rose wasn't going into shock or anything – although shock from what Martha still had no clue. "I know I'm just a student but I'm sure I can–"

"No, seriously. You don't need to."

"Well can you _at least_ tell me what happened?" She finally demanded.

The Doctor hesitated. "I can't."

 _Why not?!_ She wanted to shout. It was then she was struck by an appalling thought. From what she knew of the Doctor, and especially his very obvious love for Rose and vice versa, it was almost unbelievable, but you just never knew and Martha felt the need to say her piece, just in case.

"Okay, I need you to listen to what I'm about to say. You'll probably want to interrupt but it's really important I get this out. Can you wait 'til I'm finished before you speak?"

The Doctor nodded, eyebrows furrowed in faint confusion.

"Good. I'm only going to say this once, but I mean it. If I find out that you purposely did something to hurt Rose, I swear to God, I _will_ get her out of here. I don't care who you are – alien, Time Lord, human, whatever – you won't ever see her again. Got it?"

The Doctor's eyes were wide with horror. "I wouldn't – I'd never…" he spluttered, and Martha relaxed slightly.

"I didn't think so, I was just making sure."

He nodded silently before running a hand through his already messy hair and letting out a resigned sigh.

"She's just said goodbye to the people she loves most in the world," he said quietly.

He clearly wasn't willing to say more on the subject and Martha, while still extremely curious, didn't need to know the details as long as she knew Rose was safe. But it still didn't explain what he was doing here – he clearly hadn't come to discuss what was happening with Rose.

"Was there a reason for this visit?"

"Yes, actually," the Doctor sighed, glancing at the door once more. "I came in to apologize. I think we might have to postpone your thank-you trip."

Swallowing back her disappointment, Martha shrugged it off. "Of course, whatever she needs."

He gave her a grateful smile. "Tomorrow morning I'll drop you off but we'll come back a few hours later – well, a few hours for you, might be a few weeks for us. But either way you won't even miss us. We really do want to thank you properly."

"Sounds like a plan," Martha smiled.

The Doctor got up and headed for the door to check on Rose (which Martha knew he'd been itching to do since he walked in).

"Goodnight, Martha," he said softly as he shut the door behind him.

She reached over to switch off the lamp on her bedside table, then settled back against her pillows.

What a weird day.

* * *

 **As always, please let me know what you think :)**


	9. The Shakespeare Code: Mind the Water

**Hey guys sorry this chapter is so late, real life has been absolutely insane! I'm doing a recap because it's been so long you've probably forgotten what's just happened.**

 **Previously:** _"Martha heard the heart-wrenching sound of loud crying… She was met with the sight of her two new friends huddled together on the floor, the Doctor cradling Rose in his arms. Rose was curled into the Doctor's chest, her back to Martha, clutching at his shirt and heaving with devastated sobs… The Doctor was rubbing Rose's back gently, completely focused on the girl in his arms. As Martha watched, debating internally as to whether she should leave them alone or see if they needed help, the Doctor closed his eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to Rose's hair. He tilted his head so that his cheek was resting lightly on the top of her head and opened his eyes, spotting Martha hovering uncertainly in the doorway. His intense brown eyes were impossibly melancholy, and Martha could almost feel herself shrinking under the weight of his tortured gaze. He gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head and she took the hint, backing out of the room and into the corridor._

 _..._

 _"I'm only going to say this once, but I mean it. If I find out that you purposely did something to hurt Rose, I swear to God, I will get her out of here. I don't care who you are – alien, Time Lord, human, whatever – you won't ever see her again. Got it?"_

 _The Doctor's eyes were wide with horror. "I wouldn't – I'd never…" he spluttered, and Martha relaxed slightly._

 _"I didn't think so, I was just making sure."_

 _He nodded silently before running a hand through his already messy hair and letting out a resigned sigh._

 _"She's just said goodbye to the people she loves most in the world," he said quietly."_

* * *

As soon as he was out of Martha's room, the Doctor made a beeline for his own. He walked swiftly along the halls until he reached it, door slightly ajar the way he'd left it so that he could keep an ear out should Rose need him.

He stepped into the room, careful not to make any noise, and observed the exhausted blonde in the middle of his bed. She was curled in on herself, asleep, and the Doctor doubted that anyone but Rose could look emotionally shattered and absolutely beautiful at the same time.

As he watched she squirmed uncomfortably, reaching out a hand as if seeking comfort. Her forehead was creased and she was muttering brokenly, unable to escape from her heartache even in sleep.

The Doctor toed off his shoes and jacket before lying beside her, the way he'd done every night since Rose's return. She automatically snuggled her face into his chest and draped an arm over his stomach, letting out a sigh. Normally he would get a few hours rest himself, but he decided against it tonight. He didn't really need it and there was a big chance that Rose would wake up in the middle of the night, so instead he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started tinkering with it as best he could without disturbing the woman asleep on his chest.

To the Doctor's surprise, Rose didn't wake up until the next morning. It was almost seven am when she stretched and gave a tremendous yawn.

"Morning," she mumbled. He had a feeling that she didn't yet remember what had happened – Rose was not a morning person.

"Morning," he greeted, somewhat cautiously.

It only took another minute before he felt her stiffen against him. Silence dragged out for so long the Doctor started to worry.

"Rose?"

"I'm going to take a shower," she announced loudly, sliding out of the bed and heading straight for the en suite door without meeting his eyes.

He sighed but let her go. Once the bathroom door shut behind her, he pulled off his rumpled white undershirt and grabbed a fresh one from his drawer. He buttoned it up and took the tie from the old shirt, his jacket, and shoes, from the chair he'd left them on last night before leaving the room to get breakfast.

He reached the kitchen, now fully dressed, and immediately began pulling out the ingredients for pancakes – Rose's favourite. He made enough for Martha too, in case she was up, but he wasn't sure what toppings she liked so he left them plain.

Rose walked in about half an hour later and he slid her plate across the bench as she sat down.

"Ta," she said, eagerly tucking in to the pile of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her. He picked up his own stack (banana with whipped cream) and took a seat next to her.

"Where are we headed today?" Rose asked casually, as if it were a normal morning in the TARDIS.

Taken aback and not quite sure how to handle the situation, the Doctor cleared his throat and replied, "We're going to drop Martha back home and then spend the day wherever you want."

Rose's knife and fork clattered to her plate.

"But we haven't taken her anywhere yet!"

"I know," he replied nervously, tugging on his ear. "But I thought after yesterday, you might not want to… you know. Go anywhere."

Rose bit her lip.

"Doctor…" she started, and he was instantly worried he'd made the wrong call. "That's really sweet, yeah? But… it's not fair to Martha. And besides, I don't want to mope around. I've said my goodbyes, and now I have to move on. I can't promise I'll be completely fine, but I can't stop living just because I miss 'em. I learnt that lesson a long time ago."

She gave him a sad smile and he felt as though his chest would burst with pride. That was his Rose. She never failed to amaze him with the amount of strength and wisdom she possessed.

"You're an incredible person, Rose Tyler," he said, slightly awed.

"Shut up," she laughed, slapping his arm playfully.

"I mean it!" He insisted. She rolled her eyes but he could've sworn her cheeks turned a shade pinker. Once again he was struck by just how beautiful she was. It almost surprised him how much he wanted to lean in and kiss her. She gazed up at him and his breathing hitched. What was stopping him again?

Martha choose that moment to stroll in, thankfully not appearing to notice the Doctor jerking away from Rose as though he'd been shocked, and exclaimed, "This place is huge! Why do you need three poolrooms? Took me forever to find my way here."

"Yes, well, you never know when you might need more than one," the Doctor informed her, avoiding Rose's eyes. "I made you some pancakes – they might be a bit cold now."

Martha gave a grateful smile and took her plate from the counter.

"So, there's been a slight change of plans," he announced as she started to eat. "Looks like you'll be getting your thank-you trip today after all!"

"Brilliant! But I thought…" She glanced uncertainly at Rose, who smiled reassuringly.

"Nah, couldn't deprive you of the chance to travel in time!"

Martha still seemed unsure and Rose added, "Really, it's okay."

Martha nodded, obviously deciding not to push the topic, and the Doctor heaved himself off his seat and began bouncing impatiently on his heels. "What are we waiting for? Allons-y!"

"Hang on, I haven't finished breakfast yet!" Martha protested, but followed him and Rose as they left the kitchen regardless.

* * *

"So how long have you two known each other?" Martha asked as the trio made their way to the console room.

"Ah, bit of tricky question," the Doctor answered. "Time travel tends to make things a bit complicated."

"Yeah, near as I can tell we've been travelling together for just over two years," Rose tried to clarify. "But I've known him for about five – although technically I met him in 2005, which is three years ago for you. And the Doctor's known me for almost three and half years, even though I've only travelled with this him for over a year."

"I'm sorry I asked!" Martha laughed.

They reached the console room and the Doctor started the dematerialisation sequence. Rose had been around long enough that she knew which buttons to press so she rushed to help.

"So you two can travel anywhere in time or space?" Martha confirmed, standing near the jump seat.

"Oh yes!" The Doctor cried enthusiastically, and with a jerk of one lever they took off bumpily.

"But how do you travel in time?" Martha wondered, "What makes in go?"

Rose thought it was a decent question – she'd never thought about it like that – but the Doctor, who was winding a lever on the side of the console, groaned in exasperation.

"Oh, let's take the fun and the mystery out of everything. Martha, you don't want to know, it just does. Rose drag the fragmentiser towards you."

Rose had no idea which was the fragmatiser so she took a random guess and looked up for confirmation.

"No, the one on your left," he indicated with a nod of his head, both of his hands in use.

She touched a lever to her left and he cried, "No, your other left!"

"My right?"

"Same difference, really."

She laughed and moved around until she was next to Martha, yanking down on the appropriate lever at the same time the Doctor pressed a button with his foot.

"Hold on tight!" He cried, switching a dial.

The three were thrown off balance as the TARDIS landed with a crash.

"Blimey!" Martha exclaimed. "Did you have to pass a test to fly this thing?"

"Yes, and I failed." He raced around the room, pulling on his overcoat.

"Not a word," he added to Rose, who had opened her mouth to tease him. She snapped it shut with a grin and mimed zipping her lips.

"Good. Now, make the most of it," he addressed Martha, picking up her jacket and shoving it into her hands before moving to the ship's entrance. "I promised you one trip, and one trip only. Outside these doors – 'Brave New World'."

Rose skipped to his side and they both turned to Martha wearing matching grins.

"Where are we?" The girl asked, glancing excitedly between the two of them.

"Take a look," the Doctor suggested, opening the door without looking outside.

"You first," Rose offered, remembering the way the Doctor had let her go ahead on her own first trip.

Martha made her way towards where they stood, moving past them to step outside.

"Oh, you're kidding me," Rose heard her say as the Doctor followed her out, taking Rose's hand and tugging her with him. "You're so… kidding me – Oh my God, we did it! We… travelled in time."

They were in a crowded street, somewhere on Earth. Probably London, Rose assumed. Judging by the style of clothes she guessed early 1600's, and the foetid smell all but confirmed it. She'd long since gotten used to being bombarded with strange sights and smells after stepping out of the TARDIS, but Martha was, understandably, astounded.

"Did you doubt us or something?" Rose grinned, nudging her new friend lightly.

Martha gave her a sheepish smile and all three of them laughed.

"Don't worry, I know what it's like. It's a lot to take in," Rose assured her.

"You can say that again!" Martha said. "Where are we? No, sorry, gotta get used to this – whole new language. When are we?"

"Mind out!" The Doctor cried in alarm, pulling the two girls backwards just as a barrage of what appeared to be brown liquid landed where they'd just been standing.

Rose heard a faint cry from above call, "Gardy loo!"

"Somewhere before the invention of the toilet," the Doctor stated in response to Martha's query, and Rose crinkled her nose as she realised how close they'd been to having human waste poured over them. She'd been covered in a variety of unpleasant substances during her years travelling with the Doctor, but that didn't make it any less disgusting.

"Sorry about that," the Doctor was apologising to Martha.

"I've seen worse," she assured them as the man above closed the window. "I've worked late night shift A&E."

"What was that he shouted, Doctor? 'Gardy loo?'" Rose asked curiously.

"Yep," the Doctor said, popping the 'p'. "It's borrowed from the French phrase 'Gardez l'eau' which means 'watch out for the water'. Mind you, it's not really water, but you get the message."

The pair started to move off, but Martha called out after them.

"But are we safe? I mean, can we move around and stuff?"

They turned to face her in confusion.

"Of course we can," the Doctor answered, bewildered. "Why do you ask?"

She stared at them as though they were missing something obvious.

"It's like in the films – you step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race!"

"Tell you what then, don't…" He nodded as if to say 'you know' "… step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?"

They all started walking down the street and Martha tried again. "What if, I dunno, what if I kill my grandfather?"

"Are you planning to?"

"No," she laughed, and Rose smiled, thoroughly amused.

"Well then…"

"And this is London?" Martha checked.

"Think so," the Doctor said. "Round about..?" He trailed off and raised his eyebrows expectantly at Rose.

"Hmm, early 1600's?" She ventured.

"Ohh, so close," he assured her. "I'd say 1599."

"Come on!" She protested good-naturedly , "One year off! I'm counting that as a win."

"Oh, but hold on," Martha interrupted suddenly. "Am I alright? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?"

Rose bit her lip anxiously – she hadn't thought about that. She glanced at the Doctor to see if he thought it'd be okay, but he was staring at Martha, perplexed.

"Why would they do that?" He asked in genuine concern.

Rose rolled her eyes but he didn't seem to see.

"I'm not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed," Martha pointed out.

The Doctor just shrugged. "I'm not even human. Just walk about like you own the place, it works for me. Besides, you'd be surprised – Elizabethan England, not so different from your time."

"Oh really?" Rose said sceptically.

"Really! Look, over there – " he pointed to man shovelling horse manure into a bucket, "they've got recycling."

They passed two men standing beside a barrel of water and the Doctor nodded in their direction. "Water-cooler moment."

"… and the Earth will be consumed by flame!" An older man cried, preaching to the passers-by.

The Doctor grinned and Rose instantly knew what was next. She bumped him lightly with her hip and they both exclaimed cheerfully, "Global warming!"

Martha was shaking her head with a small smile as she watched the pair of them giggle together.

"Oh, yes, and – " the Doctor remembered suddenly, "Entertainment! Popular entertainment, for the masses. If I'm right we're just down the river by Southwark, right next to…"

He took the girl's hands and the three sprinted down the lane, rounding the corner to see…

"Oh yes! The Globe Theatre!" The Doctor announced proudly, "Brand new, just opened. Though, strictly speaking, it's not a globe it's a tetradecagon, 14 sides, containing the man himself."

"Whoa!" Martha exclaimed, wide-eyed. "You don't mean… Shakespeare in there?"

Rose watched her new friend eagerly and decided that it was no wonder the Doctor always travelled with someone – Martha's excitement was infectious. Rose had never been a huge fan of Shakespeare, but just seeing the other woman's amazement made her glad that this was where they'd ended up.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor grinned. "Miss Tyler, Miss Jones, will you accompany me to the theatre?" He proffered an arm to Martha and a hand to Rose.

Linking her hand with his, Rose bounced up and down in anticipation, more excited to see their new friend's reaction than the show itself.

"You're a bit keen," the Doctor noted. "I didn't know you were a Shakespeare fan."

"I'm not. I actually don't like his work that much."

"What?! But Shakespeare's a classic! He's one of the greats!" The Doctor argued, aghast.

"Yeah, well, not to me he's not. Could never stand his stuff in school – one of the reasons I dropped out," she joked.

Martha glanced up at her, surprised, before averting her gaze quickly. Rose knew she hadn't done it intentionally, but the fleeting look caused the blonde to regret mentioning the fact that she hadn't finished school.

Rose had long ago gotten over insecurities about her intelligence. Ever since she met the Doctor she'd learnt that there were other, equally important, qualities that she did possess. When she'd been stuck in Pete's world a lot of Torchwood employees had looked down on her for her lack of education, but she'd never let it get under her skin and had proven in field missions again and again that book smarts weren't everything.

Despite all of this, Martha's brief glance reminded her of just how inadequate she must seem compared to her two companions.

The Doctor was talking and she focused on his voice, ignoring the unsettling feelings gnawing at her.

"I can't believe it! The man's a genius, Rose. How can you not like his plays, at least?"

"I dunno," Rose answered, feeling extremely self-conscious now. "I just don't."

The Doctor seemed to pick up on her reserved mood and instantly stopped his incredulous remarks.

"More of a Dickens' enthusiast, then?" He smiled, knowing exactly what to say to cheer her up.

"You got me there," she beamed up at him, momentarily forgetting her concerns.

They were almost at the entrance when the Doctor turned to Martha and said, "Just think, when you go back home you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare."

"Then I could get sectioned!" Martha replied in mock sanguinity, causing Rose and the Doctor to laugh.

"Did you know we're not so far from the Rose theatre?" The Doctor mentioned casually.

"You're pulling my leg," Rose said, eyes narrowing in suspicion, at the same time Martha cried, "Get out of here! You're joshing us."

"I'm not!" He defended himself to the pair of them. "Seriously, it was the most popular theatre until this one opened up. Here we are!"

They reached the entry where a man was holding out a wooden box. As they watched, a couple walked up, dropped a few coins in the box and headed inside.

"I don't have any money," Martha worried, but the Doctor was already digging around in his pockets.

"Won't bother with the psychic paper," he murmured to Rose in an undertone. "It only costs a penny each to stand right in front of the stage."

"Wish the movies back home were that cheap," she grumbled. He grinned in response before dropping the three coins into the box, and the trio headed in.

"This is incredible," Martha gushed as they found a space to stand only a few rows from the front, with Rose squeezed in between her two friends.

"The Yard, this is called. Best seats in the house," the Doctor proclaimed smugly.

Rose refrained from commenting on the lack of literal seats, instead gazing around her.

"I love the theatre," she said aloud. Her two companions gave her equally confused looks, clearly remembering her earlier declaration of disdain for Shakespeare's work. Rose hastened to add, "I don't mean what's on, necessarily, I mean the atmosphere. Look how excited everyone is! Doesn't it make you want to jump around? I feel like I'm part of something really special, corny as that sounds."

"I don't think it sounds corny," Martha reassured her.

The Doctor nodded happily and picked up her hand. "As always, Rose Tyler, we are on the same page. My favourite part of theatre – the sense of community."

They stopped chatting as the play began, Love's Labour's Lost, and Rose's gaze soon wandered around the building admiringly instead of focusing on the show. The place was much larger than she imagined it would be, with three tiers of balconies overlooking the stage from the left, right, and centre. Large red and gold banners hang from the top level, complementing the colours of the torchlight and giving the atmosphere a warm, welcoming feel. People were packed into each section, although one woman caught Rose's eye. She was sitting alone, which was what made her stand out in the first place, and Rose got a funny feeling off her. The woman was watching the actors intensely and twirling something in her hands, but Rose was too far away to make out what it was. She considered pointing her out to the Doctor but he was so enraptured with the performance that she decided against it.

About halfway through she started paying more attention to the play, and she had to admit that it wasn't as boring as she thought it would be, although there were certainly times when jokes that made the audience (and the Doctor and Martha, for that matter) roar with laughter, flew straight over her head. But the actors were fascinating and she caught the basics of what it was about, plus the Doctor and Martha were having a ball so Rose didn't mind too much. She even surprised herself when at the end of the production she found that she wanted to know what happened next.

"Is there a sequel?" She asked the Doctor as the actors took their bows and the audience applauded.

"Mmmm, seems we might have converted you after all," he teased and she rolled her eyes.

"It'd be hard not to be converted, that was amazing, just amazing!" Martha enthused, "It's worth putting up with the smell!"

Rose sucked in a breath and jokingly added, "I dunno about that."

It was the Doctor's turn to roll his eyes, albeit with a smile, and Martha giggled.

"And those are men dressed as women, yeah?" She asked.

"London never changes," the Doctor answered mischievously, making Rose laugh.

"Where's Shakespeare? I wanna see Shakespeare!" Martha said impatiently. She pumped a fist in the air and started to chant "Author, author!" before stopping and checking, "Do people shout that? Do they shout 'author'?"

A man behind her took up the cry and soon the entire audience (including Rose, who had joined in straight away with a grin at the delighted Martha) was echoing the call.

"Well… they do now," the Doctor asserted.

A handsome man in his thirties soon leapt onto the stage, blowing kisses to the audience, inclining his head, and Rose assumed he had to be Shakespeare.

"Oh, he's a bit different to his portraits," Martha noted, and Rose whistled appreciatively.

The Doctor stiffened slightly beside her but only said, "Genius. He's a genius. THE genius. The most human human there's ever been, now we're gonna hear him speak! Always he chooses the best word; new, beautiful, brilliant words."

The man held up a hand to the crowd before crying "Ah, shut ya big fat mouths!", eliciting a loud laugh from the audience and a disappointed look from the Doctor.

"Oh well," he sighed.

"You should never meet your heroes," Martha advised sagely.

Up on stage Shakespeare was still speaking to the crowd. "You've got excellent taste, I'll give you that. Oh, that's a wig!" He pointed to a man in the audience, receiving another large laugh. "I know what you're all saying. Love's Labour's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon."

The crowd erupted with shouts of glee and questions of when. "Yeah, yeah," Shakespeare placated. "All in good time. You don't rush a genius."

He took another bow before staggering back, suddenly off-balance.

"Is he drunk?" Rose whispered.

"I dunno," the Doctor frowned. "Maybe."

"When?" Shakespeare continued after a moment's pause, "Tomorrow night. The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it… Love's Labour's Won."

Smiling at the good news, Rose looked to the Doctor, expecting him to be even more keen than she was. To her surprise he was staring at Shakespeare with a blank stare that she knew meant something wasn't adding up. She squeezed his hand and he snapped out of it, twitching his lips up in what he clearly meant to be a reassuring smile. If anything it worried her more.

Once they the crowd began to disperse the three of them slowly meandered out of the theatre.

"I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of Love's Labour's Won," Martha commented as they made their way back into town.

"Exactly," the Doctor answered seriously. "The lost play. It doesn't exist, only in rumours. It's mentioned in lists of his plays but never ever turns up. And no one knows why."

"Does that mean we'll get to see the ending even though no one back home will?" Rose wondered eagerly.

"Maybe," the Doctor allowed. Rose wished she knew what he was thinking.

"Have you got a mini-disc or something?" Martha asked. "We can tape it. We can flog it! Sell it when we get home and make a mint."

"No." Rose and the Doctor said in unison.

"That would be bad," Martha concluded.

"Very," Rose warned. "We once travelled with an idiot who drilled a hole in his head just so he could make money back home."

"He was your boyfriend," the Doctor reminded her.

She squinted at him. So he was going to play dirty, huh?

"Well," she stage-whispered to Martha, hoping to cause a reaction from the Doctor, who had moved in front of them. "He might've been a moron but he wasn't half-bad to look at."

She was delighted when the Doctor practically growled in annoyance, although he didn't look back them.

Martha grinned at her and nodded at the Doctor's back, giving her a silent look that Rose had seen from her best mate growing up, Shareen, so many times she'd lost count. It meant 'you two are an item and you can't convince me otherwise'.

Rose shook her head half-heartedly, trying to deny it, but Martha just smirked at her.

Rose cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject.

"So, Love's Labour's Won?" She prompted.

Martha's smile said she knew exactly what Rose was doing, but thankfully she went along with it anyway.

"Yeah, how come it disappeared in the first place?"

"Well… I was just going to give you a quick little trip in the TARDIS, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer," the Doctor smiled over his shoulder at them. "Okay with you, Rose?"

"Absolutely!" She beamed. "Let's solve a mystery!"

* * *

 **Please leave a comment, I live off reviews!**


End file.
